Dancing To My Own Beat
by Silver Inklett
Summary: A love nearly as old as she is, what will Maka be willing to risk to keep her deepest secret? SoMa. T for language and a pinch of passion  eventually .
1. Ma première Recitle

**I do not own Soul Eater, no matter how much I wish I did.**

**-0-**

"Mrs. Albarn?" Kami Albarn turned to the frail looking attendant, her husband chatting animatedly with the couple next to them. "It's your daughter. We're having a bit of an issue."

_'Wonderful' _Kami thought sarcastically to herself, brushing her ashy blonde hair behind her ear. Turning to Spirit, she laid a hand on his shoulder.

"-Yep my baby girl's gonna be a world famous meister one day-"

"Spirit," Kami whispered harshly, her patience beginning to wear down. The red haired weapon turned to her wearing a blissed out smile.

"What is it love?" he asked in a disgustingly sweet voice. Kami sighed and leaned in closer.

"It's Maka-"

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BABY GIRL!"

"KAMI CHOP!" Clutching at the dent in his skull, Spirit looked back up at his wife.

"Y-yes?" he whimpered, trying to avoid her wrath again.

"I need to go talk with her. I'll be right back." Nodding silently, Spirit leaned in and pecked Kami on the cheek.

"Give that to Maka for me." Kami smiled and got up, following the attendant down the aisle and through the backstage doors. Kami smiled exasperatedly when she was led to not the waiting room, but a broom closet.

"She won't come out, no matter what we do," the attendant said with a hint of hysteria in her voice. Yep, that was her Maka. So damned stubborn. "We thought that she might come out if you were to talk with he-"

The closet door flew open and Kami felt a small hand grab her wrist determinly before dragging the tall woman into the closet. Kami smiled widely as she watched her daughter twist the lock on the door before glaring at the door.

"Mean lady won't take me alive!" Maka cried, her cheeks puffing out and her little 6-year old fists planted firmly onto her hips. Kami had to hold back peals of laughter as she watched her daughter put a chair under the handle. Crouching down, Kami silently opened her arms with a warm smile. Maka stared at her for a few seconds before nearly tackling the poor woman.

"Mama I'm scared," the six year whimpered, her arms locked around her mother's neck in a death grip. Kami began to rub Maka's back soothingly, the little girl's styled curls making her nose tickle.

"Maka, it's only a dance recital. What's there to be scared about?" Maka pulled back and stared at her mother with teary jade green eyes.

"What if I screw up Mama?" she whimpered, playing with the hem of her flimsy pink skirt. Kami smiled and place a warm hand on her young daughter's shoulder.

"Maka, you can't let the fear of failing hold you back. What if you DON'T fail and are the best dancer on the whole stage? Meisters can't show fear, no matter what." Maka stared at her mother with big green eyes and nodded wildly, a large smile revealing two or three missing teeth. "That's my girl." Kami smiled, giving her daughter a quick peck on the cheek. "That's from your papa. Now go out there and make your mama and papa proud." Quickly unblocking the door, Maka strolled out of the closet as if nothing had happened. With one last frantic wave to her mother, she ran off towards the wings.

That was then.

_Circumstances change._

**-0-**

**My first Soul Eater fic! Yay! This fic is only going to be about 8-10 chapters long and hopefully all of the other chapters will be longer and less suckish (Woot for writing at 1 AM) than the prologue.**

**Okay, so I've had this plot bunnie stuck in my head, and it won't go die peacefully in a corner (along with many others. I should start a freakin' rabbit farm). For some reason, I imagine Maka as being a great performer. Ya know, dancing, singing, etc. So thus, Dancing To My Own Beat was born. OC's will show up in later chapters and SoMa fluff is bound to ensue! **

**Reviewing makes me update faster!**

**V**

**V**

**v**


	2. Ma Double Vie

**I do not own Soul Eater, or this story as a matter of fact. The weasels own this story (lol "Fool! I am the weasel!")**

**-0-**

**Ma Double Vie**

**« My Double Life »**

**-0-**

_Ten years later_

"Maka, you heading out?" Soul asked, wearing a bored expression. Maka turned back from the door and smiled, her right eye twitching slightly.

"Yeah, just to the library, like I do-"

"Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I know. It's been the same ever since we became partners," he said with a roll of his eyes. Really, she was such a nerd.

"Alright, I'll be going then," Maka said, opening the door and with one last smile, left their small apartment. Soul waited five minutes and then jumped for the phone, dialing a number that he knew better than his own.

"BlackStar, hey man. Maka just left… Yep, just bring the games, I got the popcorn… Oh, you KNOW I'm gonna kick your ass at Smash Bros!"

Yep, library days were the best.

-0-

_Yep, library days are the worst Maka_ thought with a sigh. She left the alley, her normal clothes hidden under a box. Pulling the baseball hat further down on her head, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. She hated lying to Soul, hell, lying to anyone made her twitchy. But when it was Soul, the guy who knew her better than ANYONE, she nearly broke down and spilled her guts in a very uncool way-

…

She did NOT just think that, did she?

Maka sighed again as she walked down Main Street. _If thinking like Soul is the worst thing that happens to me today, then I'm good _she thought. Especially considering the alternative, that he found out her very uncool secret-

SHE HAD TO STOP DOING THAT!

Maka nearly sobbed in relief when the two story building came into view. She ran for the door, all but kicking it open as she collapsed into a nearby bench.

"Oh thank god," she muttered to herself. Maka allowed herself a smile as she looked around the small welcoming room. Pictures of some of the previous students adorned the wall under a large sign (Maka still didn't understand why the sign was inside).

_Madame Caillard's Dance Academy_

_Open Since 1985_

Maka had been training as a ballerina for most of her life, starting when she was 5 and continuing even when she had enrolled as a meister at Shibusen. The only thing that had changed was that now she danced in secret.

None of her fellow meisters knew that she danced. Not even Soul, and that thought nearly made her sick. What would he think if he knew? She could practically hear him now. _"God Maka, could you be any lamer?" _The 16 year old meister bit her lip and rubbed her arms. _I don't think I could handle that, I love dancing too much. _So she just disappeared to the studio every other day, telling her friends that she was at the library or grocery shopping.

These thought weren't good for her right now, Maka decided with a sigh. Pushing herself off the bench, Maka walked down a tiny side hall, grabbing her duffle bag as she passed her locker. The familiar smell of rosin (1) and sweat greeted her as she pushed open the door to the changing room…

And was promptly tackled.

"MAKA-CHAAAAAN!" a pretty blonde screamed, her pearly white smile nearly blinding the meister/ballerina. Maka laughed, pushing the energetic girl off of her, her tension disappearing with the cheerful greeting.

"God Channing, put some clothes on before you tackle glomp me please!" Channing looked down at herself and seemed to notice for the first time that she was wearing only a lacy black bra and a pair of dark skinny jeans.

"Oh, right!" Maka shook her head and smiled as she peeled off her hat and hoodie, her fellow blonde prattling on about her weekend as they both changed into their ballet clothes. Channing was short and curvy, with lightly tanned skin and big blue eyes. Her medium length, lemon blonde hair was pulled back into a bun, side-swept bangs brushing her eyebrows. After both girls had finished changing, Maka grabbed her duffle bag and headed for the studio, her short pink dance skirt swishing around her long legs. Both girls looked at each other when they heard loud, bass-pounding, hip-hop music beating from behind the classical ballet studio door.

"I guess Kari-chan beat us here again," Channing said with her head cocked to the side. Maka laughed and pushed the door open.

"Doesn't she always?"

"Hey bitches!" Standing in middle of the hardwood floor in a leotard, shorts, and ripped black tights, Kari smiled as the two walked into the room. Kari was tall and thin, and her thick brown hair was in a messy ponytail with two pieces framing her heart shaped face. Her pale blue-gray eyes sparkled mischievously as the loud music pounded in the studio.

"Working on your piece again?" Maka asked politely, dropping her duffle bag to the floor and pulling out her prized possessions, her pointe shoes. A gift from her mother when she was 12, Maka prized these worn pink shoes as much as she prized the charm bracelet that Soul had given her for Christmas last year. Pulling them on and rolling the shoes in the rosin, Maka rolled out her sore ankles, sighing in relief when the bones popped and snapped.

"Yeah, I am," Kari said with a smile, pushing the pause button on the state-of-the art stereo system. "God Maka, what the hell did you do to your ankle?" she asked, listening to the disturbing sounds that Maka's ankle was making.

"Had a mission this weekend and all but twisted my ankle," Maka said with a groan, plopping onto the floor and stretching her legs out in a nearly full out straddle. Channing joined her on the floor and both girls stretched.

"You know, we've known you were a meister since you started here, but we've never met your partner," Kari said with a frown.

"Yeah!" Channing quipped, looking up from her spot on the floor while she was bent over in a stretch. "Is he cute? I bet he's cute!" Both Kari and Channing snickered when they saw Maka's face go red before she bent over in a stretch identical to Channing's.

"I- I guess, I mean. I don't really know."

"Girl, you live with him. I'm pretty sure you've figured out whether he's cute or not." Maka thought of many different responses and decided on Option Number 4, to ignore the brunette.

The other teens that were in the class filed in, each dressed in their different dance clothes. The class was small, only about 18 kids, mostly female with 6 boys thrown in for good measure. This was the advanced class, full of the kids who had been training for nearly 10 years. Chatting happily with one another, they all exchanged hellos with the three girls already in the room before each began to stretch on their own. After a few minutes of this, a tall, stick thin woman floated into the room, her long black skirt brushing the floor. All talking immediately came to a halt and most of the dancers all but ran for the barre.

To say that Madame Caillard was an intimidating woman would be an understatement. Most of the dancers here were terrified of her. Maka often found that ridiculous, but considering that she frequently fought kishen eggs, it was no surprise that to her Madame Caillard just seemed like a regular old woman…

Who was surprisingly agile…

And strong…

And _LOUD…_

And could probably drop-kick a linebacker into next month…

Yeah, okay, she was terrifying. The dance instructor reached for the stereo and cringed when hip-hop blasted from the speakers.

"Ms. Bovim! If you insist on using my equipment, please set it back to normal once you are done!' Madame Caillard screeched, her loud, French-accented voice bouncing off the walls. Kari rolled her eyes and trotted over to the stereo.

"Yeah Aunt Ally," she said with a sigh.

"Madame Caillard while in the studio young woman," the dance instructor said with one of her small, rare smiles.

"And to think we wonder where Kari-chan gets her temper from," Channing whispered to Maka, causing the girl to giggle quietly. After putting in the correct CD, Madame Caillard clapped her hands together, a signal for all the dancers to get in their place. Channing skipped to the front of the class, taking her place as prima ballerina while Maka settled herself in the row behind her. As the classical music began to pour from the speakers, Maka felt her brain process begin to take on a new life. She had likened her mindset while dancing as similar to fighting when she had once talked to Kari about it. Her mind went into overdrive, focusing on the people on the room around her and the placement of her body, every movement focused and controlled.

But she never tried to control the wide smile that popped up whenever she went onto her toes.

**-0-**

Maka threw her dance clothes into her duffle bag, making sure to put the pointe shoes away with special care. Back in her casual outfit of short shorts, a gray hoodie, and her "Death City Batters" baseball hat, she had left on her tights and slipped her poor, abused feet into her flip flops.

"Yo Maka, you up for a run to Deathbucks for some smoothies?" Kari called over her shoulder as she pulled on her off-the-shoulder t shirt.

"Maybe," Maka said with a sigh. "It's already 5, and I have to get home and make dinner."

"Oh come on!" Channing whined, latching onto Maka's arm. "PWEEZE? Just tell your partner that you ran into some friends and to order some pizza or something!"

"Like I said, maybe. Just let me call Soul and tell him." Stepping out the back door, Maka walked out into a small back alley. She pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed her weapon. The phone rang three times before he picked up, Maka immediately hearing BlackStar and Kidd (he had invited himself over) through the phone, screaming at what Maka believed to be Super Smash Bros.

"Hello?" Soul asked, his gravelly voice sending pleasant shivers up Maka's back.

"Hey, it's me," Maka said, ignoring the shivers. "Listen, I ran into some friends at the library and they wanted to hang out and grab a bite to eat. Do you think you and the guys can just order some pizza instead of waiting for me?" She heard Soul yell at the other boys to keep it down while he was on the phone before he went back to their conversation.

"Only you could run into friends at the library," Soul said in a joking tone of voice and Maka found herself giggling with his rough chuckles. "Yeah, sure. Do you want me to get two pizzas so you can have some when you get home?"

"That'd be awesome," Maka said with a smile, readjusting her phone and cradling her elbow in her other hand. "Hawaiian if you could."

"No problem. I'll see you later then-" Soul was cut off when Kari, who Maka swore she did NOT see coming, snatched Maka's phone from her and pulled it to her ear, holding Maka back with one outstretched hand.

"Don't worry about Maka, we'll try to keep her out of trouble! You never know with her though, she's so wild," she said playfully, clearly enjoying herself.

"Yeah," Channing chimed in with a giggle, tilting the phone so that she could get to the speaker. "She's such a wild child-"

"GIVE ME BACK MY FREAKIN' PHONE!"

"MAKE US!"

The line disconnected and Soul just stared at his phone, torn between confusion and cracking up laughing. Her friends sure sounded… energetic? He sighed and shook his head, heading to the kitchen and digging through one of the counter drawers, pulling out the menu for a local pizzeria. He tried to ignore BlackStar and Kidd's yells as he spoke into the phone, still laughing on the inside at Maka's friends.

**-0-**

"He sure sounded hot!" Kari said with an evil smile, shouldering her duffle bag. The three girls had left the studio about five minutes ago and were now on Main Street, heading for Deathbucks.

"Ugh, can we PLEASE stop talking about how hot my partner may or may not be!" Maka groaned, glaring at the two girls. They simply smiled back at her, their innocent smiles not fooling her for a second.

"Come on Maka! These are the important things in life, the unanswered questions that are just begging to be answered!" Kari preach, looking very much like Justin as she threw her arms out wide. Maka simply huffed and reached for her pocket, pulling out a small dark leather wallet.

"That's it, we're settling this," she muttered to herself as she pulled out a small photo from one of the many pockets of her dad's hand-me-down wallet." There," she said, shoving the photo in Kari's face. "That's my partner Soul Eater. Now can we please drop the subject?"

Kari just ignored her as she reached out and snatched the picture, her jaw all but scraping against the concrete. "This… is your partner?" she asked, pointing at the photo again. It was an old picture, taken a year or two ago after Soul had been turned into a Death Scythe. He was smirking at the camera, his hand running through his bangs and his other hand in the pocket of his baggy jeans. Maka remembered taking the picture while standing on a stool, something about "interesting camera angles."

"Yep, that's him. I've known him for nearly six years now… What the hell are you two doing?" Channing had joined Kari and now they were both staring at the picture.

"Planning on how we're gonna kidnap you weapon. Damn bitch, he is FINE! No wonder you've been hiding him from us!" Kari said, her eyes wide in awe. Maka frowned and snatched back the picture, smirking when both girls whined and reached for Soul's photo again.

"I haven't introduced you guys not because I'm trying to keep him to my self-"

"Bullshit," Kari deadpanned.

"But because he doesn't know about you guys," Maka continued. "He doesn't know about any of this. I doubt he's even heard of Madame Caillard's before." Kari looked at the blonde meister with sympathetic steely blue eyes.

"How do you manage that?" she asked, stepping closer to Maka.

"I just tell him that I'm going to the library and he just lets me go," Maka admitted with a shrug, shoving her hands in the pockets of her hoodie.

"Well gee, that sounds like fun!" Kari said with fake enthusiasm. Maka sighed and looked straight ahead, her forest green eyes dull.

"Yeah, but what can I do?"

"You could just tell him," Channing offered with a sweet smile, her hands clasped behind her back. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" Maka glared at the blonde and her bottom lip gutted out in a defiant expression that Soul loved (but Maka doesn't need to know that).

"Oh yes, that conversation would go well. 'Oh Soul, you know how meisters and weapon's relationships are all about trust? Well, I've been lying about going to the library, sneaking off and taking dance classes behind your back for the past six years!' I might as well shave his head and draw the Charlie Brown squiggly on the back of his head! It would DESTROY our partnership, not to mention that I'd lose my best friend. I dug myself into this hole and now I'm stuck at the bottom with no way out." Both girls winced at the dead expression Maka wore, Channing silently slipping her hand into Maka's.

They arrived at the Deathbucks without another word, each girl ordering a smoothie and some sort of pastry. As they settled themselves into the couch, Maka couldn't stop thinking about their conversation. Soul couldn't find out. Maka just couldn't lose him. He was the only boy she had ever trusted, and yet she couldn't trust him with her most valuable secrets? Eventually Maka joined the conversation, but her mind was still whirling at a hundred miles per hour.

_He can't know, _she thought sullenly. _He can never know, and it kills me._

**-0-**

**(1) – Rosin is a type of resin that dancers use to keep their shoes from slipping all over the place.**

**Yay! First official chapter up! So we get to meet our OC's Kari and Channing, and Maka gets to feel guilty! Okay, since it's going to bother me if I don't, I'm gonna go ahead and say this now.**

**I don't dance ballet.**

**I dance modern, basically the polar opposite of ballet. Pretty much all of the in-studio stuff is based off of my friends' experience in the studio and stuff I've read. So if you're a ballerina, please don't be offended if I don't correctly represent your style. I am trying my darnest, so hopefully this won't be an issue.**

**Also, I would like to thank everyone who read the story and added DTMOB to their alert list. It means a lot me and I really appreciate it! To show my appreciation, I've decided that after the fifth review I'll post the first piece of DTMOB art on my Sheezyart! It will most likely be a picture of our three ballerinas (Maka, Kari, and Channing). After this, the next update will be the week of Christmas (next NEXT week), so look forward to that!**

**Random fact of the week! Kari's last name is the same as contemporary ballet choreographer Sean Bovim.**

**REVIEWS!**

**Lilith Shiro – Do I get sprinkles too? Lol, don't worry, I'll keep updating. This story is so easy to write, so the updates should be pretty regular. I'm glad you liked the prologue and hopefully you'll like this chapter even more!**

**Kuchiki chappy- Yep, Maka get's her Chops from her Mama XD! I mean, Kami has been described as a freakin' GRIZZLY BEAR, so clearly she is ****violent enough**** awesome enough to have the Kami-Chop! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Reviews make Soul's hair spiky!**

**V**

**V**

**v**


	3. Le I Secrets Garder

**I do not own Soul Eater, but I do own a poster of my wonderfully talented friend's design.**

**-0-**

**Le I Secrets Garder**

**« The Secrets I Keep »**

**-0- **

"I'M HOOME!" Maka yelled, kicking the door open with her foot. The groceries she held in her arms were heavy and she grunted as she readjusted her hold on them. She had just gotten back from ballet class and had changed into her normal outfit, her hair in low pigtails.

"Need some help with those?" Soul called from the couch, pulling out one earphone as he watched his meister struggle with the door. Maka shot him a pleading look over her shoulder and Soul chuckled at her expression.

Which, he had to admit, was kinda adorable.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Soul sauntered over and grabbed two of the heavy bags. He subconsciously quirked an eyebrow when he noticed the heavy scent of body spray and sweat that hung around Maka like a coat. How sweaty could you get from grocery shopping?

"Have fun?" he asked jokingly, heading to the kitchen with Maka in tow.

"Oh yeah, me and all the check out girls threw a party without you. We had shopping cart races and then did lap dances for anyone who bought over fifty dollars of food," Maka said with a smile, laughing at Soul's shocked expression.

"What!" the weapon screeched, succeeding only in making Maka laugh harder.

"I'm joking Soul," Maka said with a smirk, making Soul growl. He toyed with the idea of dropping the groceries and strangling Maka's pretty little neck, but decided against it. He rolled his crimson eyes as he plopped the groceries on the counter.

"So uncool," Soul hissed as he began putting away the groceries. Maka just smiled at him and joined him, snickering when she heard him grumbling under his breath.

"Aww, come on Soul, it was just a joke. Am I not allowed to have a sense of humor?" Maka asked, her smile making a weird warmth settle in the bottom of her partner's stomach. Maka's smile faltered for a moment when she felt an all too familiar ping shudder through her soul. That ping was her soul responding to Soul's, well, soul, and a result of too many resonations with her partner. Whenever he was close or feeling any sort of strong emotion, her entire soul would shudder with the all too familiar feeling. Ignoring the ping, which almost physically hurt, Maka turned to the groceries and continued to put them away.

Soul watched her as she worked on the groceries and thought about the plan BlackStar and Kidd had concocted this afternoon. Soul had admitted to the two meisters that he had been trying to tell Maka that he liked her (who on earth was stupid enough to fall for that stubborn, pigheaded, childish, flat-chested bookworm! Oh yeah, HIM) for nearly 6 months, and both boys had winced sympathetically.

"Maka is very smart, but she's all but blind to any advances that anyone makes on her," Kidd had explained, making Soul bristle at the thought of anyone "advancing" on his naïve meister. "You either have to come straight out and tell her-" _'NO'_ "-or do something so uncharacteristically romantic that she'll have notice it despite her ignorance."

"LAME!" BlackStar had yelled, his eyes never leaving the video game in front of him. "Just kiss her until she can't breathe. That always works!"

"H-how would you know!" Soul sputtered, his face red at the thought of doing that to his meister (it kinda was a nice thought). BlackStar shrugged, his tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration.

"It was in some chick flick Tsubaki made me watch. She wouldn't stop 'aww'ing after the main dude kissed this girl." The two other boys stared at him with arched eyebrows. "Like I said, Tsubaki threatened me with castration if I didn't watch the stupid movie-"

"THAT'S IT!" Kidd exclaimed, clapping once. "That's what you need to do Soul!"

"Castration?" Soul asked, leaning away from the young Shinigami with an expression of horror. "Um, I like Maka, but NO girl is worth that." (AN – A peek inside my twisted sense of humor!)

"Not that you idiot," Kidd growled, smacking the white-haired teen upside the head. "Ask Maka to watch a movie with you. Quiet, romantic, and just you two! It's perfect!" Soul's brow furrowed in thought and he had to admit, it was a pretty good plan.

"I guess it's worth a shot," he grumbled, the thought of actually asking Maka making his stomach do flip flops.

So here he was, about to ask Maka the single most uncool question he had ever asked in his life (except maybe that one time he had asked Wes where babies came from). He looked down at his hands, feeling the coolness that he had worked so hard for bleeding from his body. Why did she have this affect on him! She was just Maka, flat-chested, stubborn, temperamental, annoying, adorable, long-legged, green-eyed, beautiful-

'_Way to go Soul. Way to go.'_

"Soul?" The demon weapon jumped, turning towards Maka with wide red eyes.

"Yeah, what?" he asked, trying desperately to pick up the pieces of his shattered cool persona. Maka simply tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips.

"You okay?" she asked, throwing away the empty grocery bags. Soul gulped and took a deep breath. _'It's now or never'_ he thought to himself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey Maka," Maka turned to him, and Soul mentally cursed those deep green eyes of hers. "Listen, you up for a movie on Friday?" Maka smiled warmly at him and leaned against the counter.

"Oh, did you want to invite the rest of the gang over?" she asked innocently.

"No, just us." Maka looked at him with a confused expression.

"Um, I don't know," Maka said, biting her lip. Ballet practice was on Friday, and she had a performance coming up. "I need to work on a paper for English." It was times like this that Maka thanked her lucky stars that she had different core classes than Soul, so he couldn't tell when she was lying. Maka's stomach dropped though when she saw a heart-broken expression flash across her partner's face for a brief moment before being replaced by a blank one. _'Why do I feel like I just kicked a puppy?' _Maka thought to herself as Soul turned and headed for the living room.

"It's no problem-"

"I'm free Saturday though!" Maka called after him. Soul turned back towards her and his meister smiled widely at him. "I'll bring the movie and you bring the popcorn?" Maka clutched harder at the counter when she felt a loud and distinct ping shudder through her whole being, her own soul giving off a smaller ping in response. Soul smiled widely at her, his jagged shark's smile making her entire body feel like it had been consumed by fire.

"Cool," he said, and sauntered into the living room. Maka watched him leave with wide forest green eyes then slid down the cabinets onto her butt, throwing her arm over her eyes. _'Oh this is going to be embarrassing'_ she thought to herself. You know those little pings she talks so much about? Yeah, their strength is multiplied whenever she is touching Soul in anyway.

And they have a very small couch.

"Oh, does Maka-chan finally have a date with scythe boy?" Maka lifted her arm and glared at the small purple cat that had just walked into the kitchen.

"It's not a da-"

"This is so great!" Blair continued, completely ignoring the meister's sputtered protests. "Bu-chan will be sure to wear something extra sexy on Saturday!"

"Ohhhh no," Maka growled, ignoring the cat's yelp as she picked the furball up by the scruff of her neck. "You are not invited to our da- movie night." Maka leaned forward so that the two were eye to eye. "You are going to go out and leave us both alone on Saturday, do you understand?" With a swirl of purple light, Blair was kneeling in front of Maka in her human form, her plump red lips in a pout and the sexy leather clothing that she was wearing accenting her large bust.

"But Bu-chan wants to-"

"No."

"But what if I-"

"Uh uh."

"Even if I-"

"BLAIR." Said cat woman cringed and then crossed her arms.

"Fine. Bu-chan will go away on Saturday," Blair said with a pout, smiling slightly when Maka heaved a sigh of relief. Blair wasn't oblivious to the feelings between meister and weapon, hell, the sexual tension in the small apartment was thick enough to be cut with a knife. The cat just liked to play with the two, and considered it her job to make Maka jealous enough to finally tell Soul how she truly felt.

Yeah, Blair had a weird way of going about matchmaking.

Deciding to go bother her favorite scythe, Blair hopped off the cool tile floor and ran into the living room, jumping onto the couch and straddling Soul.

"SOOULL!" Blair cried loudly, grabbing said boy's face and burying it in her chest. "Maka-chan is being such a meanie!" Maka jumped off the floor and leaned through the large hole in the wall between the kitchen and living room, reaching for the closest cook book, but both women stopped in their tracks when Soul simply pushed Blair away from him, not a drop of blood dripping from his nose.

"God Blair, don't you know it's not cool to jump on a guy like that?" Soul asked calmly, running his long fingers through his stark white hair. He saw Maka's jaw drop out of the corner of his eye, and in a very cool way, winked at her with a shark's smirk. If Maka hadn't been holding the counter with a death grip, her weak knees would have dropped her flat on the floor. All three jumped slightly when an electric guitar began to play in the background, sending Maka scrambling for her phone (and trying desperately to hide her burning face).

"Hello?" Maka jerked the phone away from her ear when a large high pitched squeal was emitted from the girl on the other end. "God Kari, what do you want, besides to blow out my ear drums?" Maka growled, cocking a hip as she pulled the phone back to her ear.

"You'll never guess who is at the Death City Performing Hall!" Kari all but screeched in Maka's poor abused ear.

"Surprise me-"

"NO YOU HAVE TO GUESS!" Kari screamed, making Maka cringe.

"Adam Lambert?" Maka said, randomly picking a celebrity name off the top of her head.

"Even better! Anna. Taglioni." Kari smirked as she heard Maka gasp.

"You mean-"

"The famous ballerina? Yes, and she's signing autographs!" Both Soul and Blair looked up in alarm when they heard Maka unleash a very un-Maka like fangirl squeal and start to jump up and down like an energizer bunny.

"NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY!" Maka all but screeched, making Soul cringe as her voice hit a decibel that only dogs can hear. "OHMAHGAWD I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!" Maka shut her phone and threw it to the counter, sprinting towards the shower determined to get clean before meeting the SINGLE GREATEST BALLERINA EVER!

"Yo Maka, what's wrong?" Soul asked, leaning against the kitchen wall as he watched Maka lose her footing and slip across the hall, wincing when she hit the wall with a loud smack.

"What's wrong?" Maka asked him incredulously, pulling the hair ties from her ashy blonde locks as she bounced from foot to foot. "What's wrong is that my FAVORITE Bal- Author is down at the library and I'm not already down there!" She turned to go to the bathroom but Soul grabbed her arm and turned her right back.

"But you just got home," the Death Scythe said with a small frown. Maka groaned, her head falling back before popping right back up.

"I'll be right back, give or take a few hours depending on how many people are there. PLEEASEE! I'll be with Kari so you won't have to worry about me!" Soul pursed his lips before an evil idea popped into his head, making his expression twist into a smirk. Maka, oblivious to her partner's smirk, was still bouncing up and down.

"Alright, you can go," Soul said. Maka squealed happily, but was cut off when Soul lifted one of his long, pianist's fingers. "BUT, I want to meet this Kari girl after." He was curious about this girl that Maka claimed to have met at the library, and had been meaning to ask her about it for awhile. Maka was in such a desperate frenzy that she didn't quite hear him, and was nodding before he had even finished.

"Yeah, sure, anything!" Soul smirked and released his meister's arm, taking a surprised step back when Maka took off like a shot the second his hand left her. Even more surprising was when, halfway to the shower and in more of a rush then he could ever possibly comprehend, she pulled her shirt over her head and threw it to the side, already stripping to get in the shower. Soul watched in astonished silence as Maka slammed the bathroom door shut, the sound of running water starting not an instant later. Blair walked into the hall and smiled evilly.

"Wow, I didn't know Maka-chan had kept that pair of sexy underwear Bu-chan had gotten her last year," Blair said in an innocent tone. Soul let those words sink in and Blair smirked when blood gushed out from his nose, the poor albino boy collapsing to the floor from blood loss.

Oh, how Blair LOVED her job.

**-0-**

Maka shot down the street, her wet hair flapping in the wind. She sprinted the last few blocks to the Death City Performance Hall and groaned when she saw a surprisingly long line wrapping around the building, but instantly smiled when she saw a familiar bob of brown hair waving at her.

"OH MY GOD YOU MADE IT!" Kari screamed, her face threatening to crack in half from the large grin that spread across her face. Maka grinned and skidded to a stop next to the taller girl, her wet hair slapping against her back.

"Of course I am! Do you think I would miss this?" Maka said with a smile, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She was wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans and a light blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

"Bitch, if you had missed this I would have dragged you out of that pretty little apartment of yours by the short hairs," Kari said with a smirk, looping her arm through Maka's. "Cute shirt by the way. Haven't seen that one before." Maka looked down at her shirt with a look of confusion.

"It's not mine," she said slowly, trying to remember where she grabbed it. All she could remember was flying out of the shower and grabbing the first articles of clothing she could find in the laundry room. "Oh, it's Soul's. I must have accidentally grabbed it while getting dressed." Kari's eyebrows shot up over her steely blue eyes and she whistled lowly.

"Wow, you must really have this guy whipped if he'll just let you wear his clothes without a second though," Kari said with awe in her voice, her arm leaving Maka's and her hands digging themselves into the back pockets of her baggy cargo pants. Kari may be a ballerina, but she was also a choreographer, and from Maka's experience choreographers always dressed for comfort. The tank top that the brunette wore under her flannel shirt was faded and the bottom was frayed. Somehow, Kari still managed to look every bit the hard core dancer that she truly was.

"It wasn't so much as he let me, but as in he was in no condition to argue. He kinda bled himself unconscious," Maka said with a giggle, smiling widely when she saw the people in front of her in line pull out a boom box and start dancing. Kari threw her head back and laughed her horsey laugh that Maka and Channing both loved, though Kari hated it.

"Oh man Maka, what did you do to the poor boy?" Maka's face went red and she barely managed to sputter a protest.

"Where's Channing?" she asked, trying desperately to change the subject. She didn't want to think too hard about her mad dash to the shower. Blair had teased her mercilessly about it while she was getting changed, Soul still out cold on the couch.

"Ugh, " Kari managed to growl, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "Oh that fucker is lucky that she has a family obligation, otherwise that bitch would be dead for missing freakin' ANNA TAGLIONI."

"Language Kari," Maka said with a frown, though she knew it was pointless to try and keep her friend's dirty mouth shut. Kari just rolled her eyes and cocked a hip.

"Anyway, Channing has to babysit her baby brothers, and Natalie is too lazy to help her." Maka nodded sympathetically. Channing was the middle child of a family of 5, her oldest brother in collage, her sister being a selfish twit, and her two baby brothers Noah and Danny (twins) being perhaps the biggest handful that Maka has ever had the pleasure of meeting, besides BlackStar of course.

Of course the fact that Noah was a weapon probably didn't help too much either.

It had taken Maka six years of being friends with Channing to learn that she came from a family of weapons. It hasn't that she had hidden the fact, like Maka did about her dancing, it's just that she didn't think it was that important. She hadn't inherited the weapon genes so Channing didn't really see what the big deal was about her family. Maka easily remembered the first time that she had ever helped Channing babysit the two little rascals. When Noah had misbehaved (no matter how funny it was to shave the entire left side of Natalie's head, she couldn't just let him get away with it), Maka had surprised both Channing and the two boys when by using her soul wavelength, she forced Noah into weapon form and kept him like that for an hour.

Noah's weapon form was pretty interesting, Maka had to admit. Channing's family was made up of axes and Noah's weapon form resembled a fireman's hatchet. His handle was wooden, reinforced with an iron core. His steely gray blade wasn't very sharp yet, but Maka knew that the edge would sharpen up as the boy grew older.

Maka was pulled from her thoughts as she saw Kari join in with the other dancers, the improvised hip-hop moves coming to her as easily as breathing. With a laugh, Maka joined in, reveling in the opportunity to let her muscles loose. Though ballet was her first style, thanks to Kari Maka also did contemporary and hip hop. As she started to follow Kari's movements, Maka remembered the agreement she had with Soul.

"_Alright, you can go," Soul said. Maka squealed happily, but was cut off when Soul lifted one of his long, pianist fingers. "BUT, I want to meet this Kari girl after."_

Maka came to a complete stop, her eyes wide and only thinking one thing.

"Fuck."

**-0-**

Maka held her head in her hands as the two girls walked down the street towards her and Soul's apartment.

"Oh my god, I can't believe we actually got to meet Anna Taglioni! And get her signature, all in the same day!" Kari said with a squeal. "Best. Day. Of my life."

"Yeah, well I'm glad at least one of us is happy. I can't believe I agreed to this!" Maka groaned. This was bad. This was really, REALLY, bad. Her two lives were colliding, in the convenient form of a temperamental ballerina and an albino Death Scythe.

"Maka, calm down!" Kari reassured, smiling warmly at the distraught meister. "I won't screw this up, okay? I'll be the perfect houseguest! You won't even recognize me, Scout's honor!" she said with a smile, holding up her right hand in the Boy Scout sign.

"You weren't a Boy Scout."

"Eh, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, it's all the same to me."

"You weren't a Girl Scout either," Maka said with an exasperated expression. She looked around with a start when she realized that they were already in front of her and Soul's apartment. Taking a final deep breath, Maka pointed at Kari. "Behave," she growled. Kari smiled innocently at the agitated girl and Maka's metaphorical hackles rose at the almost demonic look in the taller girl's eyes.

Soul rubbed his head, the nosebleed having given him a major headache. He had woken up about ten minutes ago, and after screaming at Blair to stop teasing him about the… incident, Soul had changed into a slightly tight t-shirt, thankfully without a blood stain on the front. He looked up from where he was putting a CD into the stereo when he heard the front door open.

"Hey," Maka said with a nervous wave. Soul smiled at her and then his eyes immediately latched onto the girl behind his tiny meister. She was tall, with medium length brown hair and steely blue eyes that he swore could see into his very soul. She was considerably curved, her chest narrow and her hips wide. Soul smiled slightly at her and her jaw all but dropped.

"Holy- DAMN YOU MAKA! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOUR PARTNER WAS FREAKING HOT!" The girl, who he guessed to be Kari, punched Maka's shoulder. Soul's eyes widened slightly. _'I'm hot?'_

"KARI!" Maka hissed, her cheeks red. "I thought we already had this conversation!" This caused Soul to smirk and raise an eyebrow at his fluster partner, who seemed to realize exactly she just said. "NO! NOT LIKE THAT!" she screeched, her hands waving in front of her. "They kept bothering me about what you looked like and I had to show them a picture of you in order to shut them up! Oh god, this is a disaster." Soul's smirk softened into a smile when Maka buried her face into her hands, moaning something about killing Kari in her sleep. Soul opened his mouth to tease her some more, but stopped when he noticed what she was wearing.

"That's my shirt," he deadpanned. Maka looked up at him then down at the shirt she was wearing.

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that. I just grabbed the first things I touched." Honestly, Soul didn't mind. The shirt looked better on Maka than it ever would on him. The light blue color drew out the brown lowlights in her ashy hair and the loose shirt draped over her shoulders in a very enticing way. Not to mention that the top two buttons were undone, revealing what little cleavage Maka did have and her delicate collarbone.

"Nah, its fine. It looks cool on you," Soul said, smiling. To his surprise, Kari swooned dramatically and sighed.

"Oh god, even his voice is hot," she breathed. Soul immediately backed away when he saw Maka reach for the closest book, but to his complete and utter surprise, when Maka swung her biology textbook at the taller girl, Kari dodged it with a slight twirl to the right. In all of his years of living with Maka, Soul had never, IN HIS LIFE, seen someone dodge the deadly attack. He had also never seen a potential victim _stick their tongue out _at the agitated meister. _'Does this girl have a deathwish?' _Soul thought, panicked by the pure rage (and embarrassment) that he could feel coming from Maka's soul.

"Oh, come on Maka, you can do better than that," Kari teased, swaying slightly to the soundtrack Soul had playing. Maka's face went red and she leaped at the taller girl with a shriek of rage. Much to his surprise (and horror), Kari just kept dodging, her movements almost like a dance. After about five minutes of the deadly dance, Soul felt the Maka's rage cool and she stopped, cocking a hip and shouldering the book.

"Kari, I will not hesitate to kick you out of this apartment," Maka said in a low, cold voice, though her slight smile made the threat much less threatening. Soul smirked slightly when he saw Kari straighten out of her crouch and smile teasingly at his meister.

"No you won't, you love me too much." Kari turned to Soul and stuck out her hand, smiling widely at him and mischief sparkling in her steely eyes. "Sorry 'bout that, she's just too much fun to tease," Kari said, smirking when Maka yelled "I resent that comment!" at the back of her head.

"Like I said, WAY too much fun to tease. I'm Kari Bovim," Soul reached out and shook her hand, smirking and revealing his sharp teeth. Much to her credit, she didn't shy away or wince at the sight of his sharpened teeth, instead she just smiled right back. When she broke their handshake, she turned and looked at Soul's state of the art _Grooveshark 1068 _stereo.

"Oh wow, and he has a great taste in music?" Kari said, winking at a blushing Maka. "You sure know how to pick 'em Albarn-"

"ANYWAYS!" Maka all but screamed, making both older teens laugh. "Well Kari, it was nice of you to come over, but you really should be going!" she said, all but shoving Kari out of the apartment. Kari just laughed, waving to Soul over her shoulder.

"Later then!" she yelled as Maka pushed her forward. "Maka, remember what we talked about," she said in a more serious tone. Soul quirked an eyebrow at her weird comment while Maka's expression shifted from one of annoyance to one of panic. Though Soul couldn't see Maka's face, he could _feel _her panic and horror at Kari's comment. '_Why would an innocent comment like that cause Maka to panic?' _he thought to himself as he watched Maka slam the door on a still smiling Kari, though before the door closed he saw her expression shift into a smirk.

Maka pressed her back against the door, her head tilted towards the ceiling. Soul hadn't caught the hidden meaning behind Kari's comment, but Maka had. _'She wants me to tell him,' _she thought wearily, running her fingers through her bangs. _'No, she's ordering me to tell him, or she'll do it.' _Kari had mentioned this earlier at Deathbucks, much to Maka's horror.

"_Honey, you can't just keep him in the dark. You've gotta tell him about your dancing before he finds out some other way." Maka glared at the older girl and scowled at her._

"_Yeah, sure. Or what? Are you going to tell him?"_

"_Yes," Kari deadpanned, her eyes staring into Maka's own forest green ones. Maka's eyes widened and she searched for the joking, happy Kari that she knew, but saw only the serious young woman that sat in front of her._

"Well, that was interesting," Soul said, effectively pulling his meister from her thoughts. Maka smiled wearily at him and laughed once.

"Yeah, that's Kari for you. Be thankful that Channing hadn't been here too, that would have been a disaster," Maka said with a fond smile, pushing herself away from the door with a sigh. "I'm going to head to bed. You can just fix yourself some leftover pizza or something. " Soul nodded and followed her to the kitchen where she fixed herself a glass of water.

"Yeah, okay," he said, digging through the fridge for the pizza he, BlackStar, and Kidd and eaten earlier. His hand froze as he felt Maka's soul give off a small, barely-noticeable shudder, and Soul instantly recognized the feelings flitting through her soul as regret, sorrow, and something else… anticipation? Nervousness? His brows furrowed in confusion as he reached out with his soul to hers, stunned when he found it locked to him. That was weird, he normally could always reach her soul…

'_She's hiding something,' _he realized with a start.

No way, Maka would never hide anything from him. They were partners, it was essential that they knew each other, often better than they knew themselves. He looked over the fridge door at her and saw that she was staring at her water with a blank expression. "Hey Maka?" he asked hesitantly, shaking her from her thoughts again. She jerked her head up and stared at him with wide green eyes.

"Yes?" she asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. Soul just shook his head.

"Nothing," he said quietly. Maka nodded at him and with a final good night, headed to her room, oblivious to Soul's eyes following her every move.

'_What are you hiding from me Maka Albarn?'_

**-0-**

**Holy fuck.**

**Ten. Pages.**

**SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GUYS REVIEW? I BARF UP TEN PAGES OF AWESOME FLUFFTASTIC WIN!**

**Admittedly Soul is kinda OOC, BUT STILL! WIIIIIIN!**

**I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed (a grand total of 13 people) and all the people who have subscribed or faved this story (a grand total of )! You guys really have no clue how much that means to me, and how awesome you guys have made my week! I'm glad you all like Kari and Channing, I was a bit nervous about them at first (I literally came up with them on the spot), but you guys have made all of that doubt disappear!**

**And now, I remember promising you guys a piece of fanart after 5 reviews, but holy crap, I don't feel like that's enough! So from now on, I will be posting more art with each chapter along wiiiith, drumroll please! *drum rolls across the screen* For the 20****th**** person to review, I will draw them any piece of DTMOB fan art that their little heart desires! I'll PM the lucky winner and then you can tell me what you want! Without further ado, here's your first piece of art! Hope you guys like it! (copy and paste, take out all the spaces, you know the deal)**

**http:/ www . sheezyart . com/ art/ view/**** 2356794/**

**Hopefully, I will have the next chapter up before Christmas, but if all the chapters are gonna be this long they make take longer. Much love to you all and happy holidays!**

**Random fact of the week! Anna Taglioni is based off of Marie Taglioni, a famous Italian ballerina. Also, I'm listening to the soundtrack of the French musical 'Romeo et Juliette' as I write this (Look up the song "Demain" on YouTube, it's really powerful and beautiful)**

**REVIEWS!**

**Lilith Shiro – YAY! *gets sprinkles* Thanks so much for your positive reviews, I'm glad you like Kari and Channing! Yeah, I was nervous about them being slightly Mary Sue, but I guess I don't have to worry about that too much anymore! I also like the idea of Maka as a secret dancer (well duh, otherwise would I be writing this?).**

**ZombieKid – Ugh, yeah. I'm planning on rewriting the prologue, but thank you for sticking with this and reading the second chapter! I love Kari and Channing too, and am planning on doing a lot more with those characters in the near future. IhopeIupdateagainsoon too XD!**

**eakoandcompany – Lol, well you know what they say, great minds think alike! I actually had a plot bunny similar to yours at first, but decided that I would try this first. I can't wait to read your story! Well, here's your next chapter, so hopefully I won't be arrested lol!**

**Grey-The Ulatmite Fan Girl – EEEEEEEEE to you too! I also used to dance ballet, but that was when I was, like, six. Now I dance modern/contemporary and am pleased with my choice to stick with that style for going on 4 years! I'm glad you like the story and hopefully you'll like this chapter just as much!**

**FreeHugz767- Lol, I love your username. That's pretty much my whole philosophy in life :D! I'm glad you like the story and look forward to updates! There will be a lot more updates during Winter Break hopefully, so look out for those.**

**Kuchiki chappy -*hides* New chapter, see? No need to hunt me down. Lol, must draw! I have that mental image now too!**

**TwInKi-GiRl99**** – Yep, it's adorable! Hope you like this chapter!**

**formally know as danni55**** – Formally? As in not anymore lol? I'm so happy you thought the first chapter was good, and hopefully this chapter will be even more so!**

**Techno Skittles – I'm glad you enjoy it! I normally don't find much interest in ballet either *collective gasp from the readers* but I have many ballerinas for friends and ballet just seemed to suit Maka. Hope you like this chapter too!**

**TheBadsun – That's what I strive for! This story is pretty simple to write and I already have it all planned out, so the updates will be coming faster hopefully. I do have to admit, this is the fastest I've ever updated on a multichapter fic. Normally I just kinda drop off the face of the Earth for awhile, but all the reviews and love from the people in the Soul Eater fandom are making me happy to update more frequently!**

**-Aneera- - Oh bitch, you best bring yo "A" game to this party lol! God, the mental image of you beating Kidd and BlackStar over the head with a Wii remote is just too funny! I'm glad to see that I could suck you into yet another fandom!**

***is shot for the author's note being too long***

**Reviews make Kidd's OCD act up (and we all know how much fun that is)!**

**V**

**V**

**V **


	4. Je suis essoufflée d'attente

**I don't own Soul Eater, but I do own a Kindle I got for Christmas ( :DDDD)!**

**-0-**

**Je suis essoufflée d'attente**

**« I'm Breathlessly Waiting»**

**-0-**

Maka tapped her foot nervously against the hardwood floor as she watched the clock. "Come on, come on," she hissed, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make the clock hanging above the chalkboard go faster. Soul watched this all with an amused smirk, chuckling to himself at the squinty face his meister was making, eyebrows furrowed, lips pouted. _'Soft, kissable lips- FOCUS SOUL EATER!'_

"Maka, you do realize that staring at the clock will not make it go any faster right?" Liz asked, leaning towards the frustrated girl. Maka turned and glared at the demon gun, sticking her tongue out in a very childish way (Channing would've been proud).

"Yeah, I know, it's just that I've got some really… important stuff to take care of after school," Maka drawled with a roll of her eyes. Liz raised one of her immaculately groomed eyebrows and looked the meister up and down. Today was one of those rare days where Maka was wearing something besides usual school uniform, and much to Soul's annoyance many of the boys at Shibusen had noticed. Her long legs were emphasized by the bleached skinny jeans she wore, and the purple top that she had on was both off the shoulder AND stopped at her waist, showing off two of her best features. Her hair was also let down, now brushing the small of her back (she really did need to get it cut), her bangs brushed to the side. Liz smiled mischievously and leaned in closer to the younger girl.

"Ya got a date tonight hon?" she drawled in her lazy New Yorker accent (AN – For some reason I picture Liz and Patti with New Yorker accents), waggling her eyebrows suggestively. Soul stiffened next to his meister, though she didn't notice. _'Is that what she's hiding from me?'_ Soul thought worriedly. _'Does she have a boyfriend that no one knows about?'_ His mind went into overdrive, shifting through all of the possibilities, but was rewarded for his efforts when he heard Maka say "Pfft, no. I've got a paper to write." For the past two days Soul had been watching Maka's every move, listening to every conversation, trying desperately to figure out what it was that was blocking him from his meister's soul. So far, his search for answers had wielded nothing but a few well placed Maka-Chops.

Maka leaned towards Liz with her chin in her hand. "I doubt I could get a date if I tried," she admitted pouting slightly. "I'm 'too small chested'," she growled sarcastically, her imitation of Soul making the older weapon snicker.

"Maka, walk around in that little number more often, and you'll have guys beating down your door," Liz pointed out with a smirk.

'_Mental note: Burn that shirt later' _Soul thought grimly. Though he did like the way it showed off her thin shoulders and swan-like neck, food for his hungry eyes. Kidd looked at the two girls out of the corner of his eyes and brushed a piece of his hair back into alignment with the other side.

"Maka is a very symmetrical young woman, I'm sure she could find a date easily," he said, looking at Soul from the corner of his eyes as if to say _"So you better hurry up idiot."_

"Thank you Kidd!" Maka said happily, knowing that "symmetrical" meant beautiful in Kidd-speak.

"Oh please!" BlackStar all but screamed, smirking haughtily down at his friends. After being shushed by his five friends and weapon, he continued in a slightly lower voice. "Maka is so damn temperamental that no boy would be willing to put up with her! I'm surprised Soul even manages!" BlackStar's weapon Tsubaki pulled on his ear and growled for him to apologize, looking like a mother defending her child. Maka glared darkly at the blue-haired boy, but Soul could feel her soul let out a small whimper of pain from the insult. The Death Scythe's fists tightened and he was about ready to beat BlackStar for insulting his meister, but he was distracted when Liz leaned past Maka to look straight at him, the mischievous glint in her dark blue eyes reminding Soul of the girl he had met on Wednesday.

"What about you Soul?" she asked, smirking slightly. "Do you think Maka could get a date?" Maka whipped around to look at him, trying to keep her expression neutral but failing miserably. _'God, why does it matter what Soul thinks?' _she wondered angrily as she watched Soul ponder the question. _'It's just Soul, it's just Soul, it's just Soul, it's just-'_

"Honestly?" Maka bit her lip, her heart clenching. People never have anything good to say when they say 'Honestly.' Liz nodded and Soul shrugged. "Yeah, she could." _'I knew it, I just knew it! All men are all the same, only caring about boobs and-'_

Wait.

What?

Maka cocked her head to the side with a puzzled expression. That wasn't the answer she expected. A quick glance around showed her that all of her friends were wearing similar expressions.

"Gotta say Soul, did not expect that answer. Care to elaborate?" Liz drawled. Soul looked away quickly from his friends, the slightest hint of a blush on his cheeks.

"So uncool," he muttered before sighing. "Look, Maka may not have any boobs-"

"Idiot," Maka growled, her eyes narrowing. Soul lifted a finger.

"BUT she has plenty of other good features that make her… attractive." _'That's good. Attractive is a good, detached adjective,'_ Soul thought to himself as he watched his words sink in.

"Now that you mention it, Maka does have some pretty kick ass legs," BlackStar noted, his chin in his hand as he looked at the female meister thoughtfully.

"And she has very beautiful eyes!" Tsubaki added helpfully, glad with the turn this conversation had taken. Maka blushed and looked down at her knees as all of her other friends tossed in their own thoughts.

"I like her hair! So pretty!" Patti mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she slowly woke from her nap.

"She has really pretty shoulders," Liz added, brushing a few pieces of Maka's hair in front of said shoulders.

"She is perfectly symmetrical, I have never seen such perfection in a woman!" Kidd gushed.

"See?" Soul said, smirking and gesturing lazily at their friends. "Geez Maka, stop putting yourself down. We all think you're perfect, temper and all, so stop worrying!" Maka looked at him with wide eyes for a few seconds before smiling widely, giggling softly.

"Pretty smile," all six of her friends said in unison, making Maka blush. Soul smiled slightly at the strong ping her soul gave off, giving voice to the content and happiness that she was feeling at her friends' compliments. Maka glanced up shyly at him and he smiled wider, showing off his pointed teeth.

"But of course that means that pretty soon we'll have to start beating off all of the asswipes who try coming on to her!" BlackStar yelled angrily, jumping up on the desk with a murderous expression. Maka's eyes widened in horror as she watched BlackStar take a deep breath, preparing for a monologue for the whole class to hear (though in the back of her mind, Maka noticed Soul scowl and nod once). Out of nowhere, a scalpel whizzed through the air and lodged itself in the wood right next to BlackStar's head. All seven teens went an interesting shade of white as they turned to the front of the class, finding themselves under the gaze of a certain stitched up professor.

"BlackStar, I kindly suggest that you sit down before I send the next scalpel right through your frontal lobe," Dr. Stein drawled in his lazy monotone, the glint off of his glasses making his eyes unreadable. Dr. Stein was still as much of the crazy, dissection obsessed man that he was when he had arrived at Shibusen nearly two years ago, and Soul couldn't help but wince as he looked down at the victim today. A small terrier puppy sat in the cage, tongue lolling happily and oblivious to the man's dark intentions. _'Well at least it's better than the time he nearly chopped up Blair,'_ Soul thought with a wince (Soul and Maka had barely managed to save her before Stein cut her up thinking she was a stray). BlackStar muttered something about how no one could order around the great BlackStar, but he sat down anyways. Maka smirked, for she could feel the terror swelling in BlackStar's soul and she knew Dr. Stein could see it as well, seeing as he had the same amazing sense of Soul Perception as she did. Soul shook his head and grumbled "Idiot," under his breath, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hand. He instantly stiffened when he felt Maka lean in close to him, her breath hot and dizzying against his ear.

"Thank you, "she whispered, nearly driving her weapon mad with the feel of her lips brushing his ear. She didn't mean it teasingly, he knew that, but GOD did it feel good. Soul took a deep breath to try and calm himself down, turning to Maka only when he knew that she was far enough away (and his highly perverted thoughts were locked up in the back of his mind) for it to be safe.

"No problem," Soul shrugged. Maka smiled warmly at him, and he saw Liz smirk in the background. "_Caught ya" _she mouthed, making Soul's blood run cold. Son of a- Kidd was SO dead for squealing! Maka smiled happily, ignorant to the silent battle wagging behind her, staring at the clock with not anxiousness, but content. _'Today is going to be a good day,' _she thought happily to herself.

Or at least she did until the small cry of a puppy came from the front of the class, suspiciously close to where Dr. Stein's dissection table was.

**-0-**

"He chopped up a PUPPY! And made you take fucking NOTES!" Kari screeched, her face twisted into a horrified expression. Maka nodded solemnly, pulling an overlarge t-shirt over her head, one sleeve falling over her shoulder.

Which apparently Liz thought was nice as far as shoulders go.

Maka smiled as she walked down the hall to the studio, that day's conversation still fresh in her mind. It had made her heart swell with affection when everyone had said those nice things about her, and even after that they didn't stop. On the way to lunch, Liz kept pointing out all of the guys who were looking at her (and then BlackStar and Soul added them to the list of people to beat up later). During math, Tsubaki absent-mindedly mentioned that she thought that Maka should wear her hair down more often. And Soul-

Actually, Soul hadn't said anything. If he hadn't started this whole thing with one well timed comment, Maka would have been a bit hurt at his lack of any comment. She still kinda was.

"Yo, Maka!" Kari said, waving her hand in front of a spacey Maka's face. Maka blinked once, twice, and then turned to Kari with a smile.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. I had a pretty interesting day," Maka admitted sheepishly. Channing popped up next her, throwing her arms around the meister's neck.

"OOOO! Tell us tell us tell us!" she all but yelled. Maka pushed the blonde off her roughly, but the smile on her face made the action playful and not mean. Maka told them about Soul's comment and the ensuing compliments. Both Kari and Channing smiled and added their own compliments that only they could.

"You're one of the best in our class on pointe!" Channing said, her head tilted slightly to the side and a wide smile making her glow.

"I've never seen a ballerina perform such a bitchin' contemporary routine," Kari added with a smirk, making Maka blush.

"Only you guys would compliment me on my dancing," Maka said with a good natured shove.

"Only we can," Kari said somberly, pinning Maka to the floor with her steely blue gaze. Channing looked back and forth between the two, her dark cobalt eyes wide.

"Yeah, well-"

"HEY THERE SHIBUSEN!" Maka screamed as a pair of strong arms picked her up and twirled her around, her heartbeat skyrocketing from the sudden lack of ground under her feet.

"HOLY CRAP MARCUS! PUT ME DOWN!" she screeched, feet kicking desperately and glaring at her two friends (but they couldn't see because they were laughing too hard). With a snort of laughter, Marcus set her on the hardwood floor and was promptly Maka-Chopped. Marcus was tall (Really, REALLY, tall) and his chocolate colored skin made his white smile even more pronounced. His black hair was trimmed close to his head and his wide chocolate eyes shone with good humor. Maka growled exasperatedly at him and rolled her eyes.

"Can't you wait at LEAST until class starts to pick me up?" she growled, making the taller boy guff out another laugh. He reached out and ruffled Maka's hair, earning a polite "screw you" for his efforts.

"Aw, Shibusen, how can I help myself?" he asked teasingly, using the nickname that only he was allowed to use without the risk of a book to the face. "You're so small and cute!" Maka crossed her arms and pouted, looking anywhere but at him.

"Jerk stop being tall," she mumbled under her breath, making Marcus laugh _yet again. _Maka glared irritably at her partner and stomped into the studio.

Now I know what you're all thinking. "WHAAA? Partner! But what about Soul! WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST 10 MINUTES THAT I MISSED!" Well, nothing. To Maka, there are two types of partners. There's the "I'm trusting you with my life here so Resonate with me damn it" kinda partner and there is the "If you drop me while doing a Fish (1) I will personally Maka-chop your ass to Alaska" partner. Marcus was her faithful pas de deux partner, and she almost trusted him as much as she did Soul (she knew that she'd never be able to trust anyone with everything she had like she could with her weapon). If Marcus screwed up even once, she'd end up out of commission and would have to explain her injury to a very-pissed off Soul.

Yeah, that was something she very much wanted to avoid.

Maka turned to the teacher of the Partnering class, one of the newer teachers, and punched Marcus in the shoulder. He winced and smiled weakly at her. In many ways where Soul was her opposite, Marcus was her twin (you know, metaphorically speaking). Both teens were bookworms, Marcus being sweet and strong hearted where Soul was lazy and aggressive. Marcus was all around a more agreeable person to hang out with and yet, for reasons she will never comprehend, Maka would take her bullheaded Death Scythe over the dancer any day.

Shaking her head, she listened amusedly as the teacher placed one of the classes' favorite CDs into the stereo system, everyone immediately singing along with the French words, Maka being no exception. Marcus held out his hand, smiling warmly and comfortably at her. Almost instantly, Maka found herself smiling back and placing her hand into his much larger one. He twirled her once and then with one well placed hand, had her off the ground and over his shoulder, the teacher giving comments to all of the students as they did each movement. As she flew through the air to the sound of her class breathing hard and singing loudly, she wondered what partnering like Soul would be like and pleasant shivers ran up and down her back. _'Focus on your dancing,' _Maka reprimanded her elf as her balance shifted unexpectantly. _'Now is not the time to be thinking about Soul.'_

Class ended all too soon and Maka waved goodbye to her friends, still smiling from all of their familiar antics and jokes that had been passed around in the studio. Channing skipped up beside her and they fell into step easily. Channing's house was on the same path to Maka's own, much smaller, apartment and the two girls walked along quietly, just reveling in the autumn air as they hummed songs that had played during class.

"Hey Channing, I have to run by the video rental place. Do you mind a quick stop?" Maka asked and Channing shook her head, smiling warmly.

"Nah, I should probably try and find something to keep the tramps entertained," Channing responded with a shrug. Both girls waved at the boy at the counter when they stepped into the Deathbusters, Maka internally growling when she saw the lecherous boy's eyes cling onto the girl next to her. Channing was very pretty and had curves in places where some girls didn't even have places (2),but she was also sweet and seemingly even more oblivious than Maka, the tiny ballerina's eyes half-lidded in a lazy expression that reminded the meister too much of Soul. Maka looked at the boy with a look that screamed "_Eyes off my best friend jackass."_ The boy jumped slightly and busied himself with something behind the counter, his eyes wide and his soul shaking with terror much to Maka's enjoyment.

"Say Channing," Maka asked absent-mindedly. "What kinda movie do you think would be for a movie night with Soul?" Maka twitched slightly when she felt Channing's soul give off a smug trill (her Soul Perception was still on) and she sauntered over with a movie in hand, thrusting it into Maka's outstretched hands. She looked down at the title and quirked an eyebrow.

"'Nightmare on Elm Street'?" Maka asked curiously, Channing just smiling and nodding.

"Yep! That way, when something scary happens, you'll have an excuse to cuddle with him!" Channing's smile turned into a slight smirk as she watched Maka's face go red.

"G-god Channing, since when are you so devious!" Maka muttered, annoyed by her friend's knowing smile.

"I've been hanging around my sister and Kari-chan too much, they've rubbed off on me," Channing said with a noncommittal shrug. Maka groaned and face palmed herself, muttering something about holding a funeral for Channing's lost innocence. Channing quickly grabbed one of the Transformers movies and after checking out (Maka's glare never left the boy behind the counter) the two girls left, parting ways after a few minutes of quiet chattering and giggles. Maka pushed open the door to her apartment with her hip, surprised when she was met by silence. A quick glance around confirmed that Soul wasn't there.

"Now where is he…" Maka grumbled to herself, changing out of her clothes into an oversized t-shirt and a pair of sleeping boxers Tsubaki had bought for her. Sauntering into the kitchen, Maka noticed a note on the refrigerator door.

_Maka,_

_Went out to play basketball with BlackStar and Kidd. Will be home around…  
I'll be home eventually.  
Feel free to join us,_

_Soul_

Maka smiled and shook her head, pulling open the fridge door and pulling out a slice of leftover pizza. Putting the pizza in the microwave to heat up, Maka pulled out her cell phone and sent Soul a quick text.

.:.  
To: Soul – cooldude99  
From: Maka – grigorigurl5  
Subject: Idiot  
Be home by 12 at the latest. Don't want a repeat of the Suds incident.  
Also, if you come home drunk I'm personally going to kill you.  
.:.

She smirked as she pulled out her pizza and sat on the couch, flipping the channel to some sitcom that she wasn't really watching. She was way too worried about tomorrow's movie night to honestly care about what was happening on screen. What was she supposed to do? It was Soul, so she doubted it was meant to be romantic, but her heart was still racing at the thought of sitting in the dark for an hour and a half in such close quarters. It was hard enough to ignore the bond between their souls when they weren't touching, let alone when they were. Maka always felt their souls hum in unison with even the simplest brushing of the fingers, or an accidental bump. Maka was ripped from her thoughts when her cell phone pinged.

.:.  
To: Maka – grigorigurl5  
From: Soul – cooldude99  
Subject: And u 3 me 4 it XP  
yeah yeah whtevr.  
don't blame me 4 the suds thing, that was all blackstar!  
cool guys like me don't get drunk, we kno when to stop

To: Soul – cooldude99  
From: Maka – grigorigurl5  
Subject: Keep telling yourself that.  
It may have been BlackStar, but I was the one who had to pay the bail, so don't do anything that requires police involvement.  
Learn to stop sooner dumb ass. DX  
.:.

The next thirty minutes were like that, back and forth between weapon and meister. Maka laughed at Soul's texts and if she didn't know better, she would have thought that he was flirting with her. It continued like this until she heard her phone ping, but the number wasn't Soul's.

.:.  
To: Maka – grigorigurl5  
From: BlackStar – theGreat1  
Subject: Damn it Maka  
STOP TXTING SOUL!  
we need him 4 b ball and he cant play while staring at his fone, smirking lyk a villan!  
.:.

Maka smiled and shook her head, reaching for her book. Well, at least she could try and get some reading in before Soul got home.

Soul arrived at the apartment at exactly 12:10. Knowing Maka's temper and how much she hated it when he was even the tiniest bit late, Soul cringed, waiting for a Maka-Chop that never came. He looked up curiously and smiled warmly when he saw Maka spread out on the couch, book over her face and hand resting on her stomach as soft snores came from her sleeping form. The albino boy shook his head and walked over to her, a soft smile playing across his lips. He gently removed the book from her grip, marking her place and setting it on the coffee table. She looked adorable in her sleep, her face unguarded and calm, soft lips parted just slightly and hair forming a halo around her head. Soul let his eyes unfocus briefly and he could see the outlines of her Grigori soul giving her wings. His soul called out for hers at the sight and Maka's soul responded softly, making Soul smile wider. He gently scooped her up into his long arms and carried her to her bed. Their souls began to hum at the contact, and Soul felt Maka stir slightly.

"Mmm, Sowwl?" Maka mumbled sleepily, looking at her weapon with half-lidded eyes. Soul pushed open her bedroom door with his foot, not glancing down at the small girl in his arms.

"Yeah Angel-chan, I'm here," he murmured, using the nickname that he only dared to when she was either asleep or drunk. "Just go back to sleep." Maka nodded slowly and Soul placed in her bed, pulling the covers over her small body. Just as he was about to pull away and go to his own room, Soul felt a pair of thin arms drape lazily around his neck and pull him down into a hug. Soul instantly tensed up, a fierce blush popping up uncalled at the close contact with his meister.

"Nighty night Sowl," she whispered, her lips brushing against his ear like they had earlier. Soul watched with wide eyes as Maka feel back into a deep sleep, her arms still wrapped around his neck and her soul humming contently in synch with his own (though his was a bit more flustered at the contact).

"So uncool," he grumbled, slowly unwrapping her arms from around him, holding her wrists for a few seconds longer than necessary. With one final look at his sleeping meister, he stepped out of the room with a relieved sigh and was greeted by a smirking purple cat. The two stared each other down for a few seconds before Soul glared down at Blair with fiery red eyes.

"Not a word, do you understand me cat?" he hissed, walking to his room faster than needed. Blair watched him go with a knowing smirk and strolled into Maka's room, curling up by the meister's side.

"Whatever you say Soul, whatever you say."

**-0-**

Maka woke slowly, her body awake before her brain was. Yawning groggily, she stretched her arms over her head, waking Blair.

"Morning Maka-Chan!" Blair said sleepily, licking her paw and rubbing it against her eye. Maka smiled lazily at the magic cat and scratched her behind her ears, making Blair purr like a motor boat. Getting up slowly as to not give herself vertigo, Maka ambled slowly into the kitchen, one eye brow raising slightly at the sight of Soul already up, and cooking breakfast no less.

"Mornin' Maka," Soul said, his deep voice making her soul shiver. "How are you feeling?" he asked when she all but collapsed against the kitchen table.

"It feels like my brain's wearing a sweater," Maka mumbled, earning a smirk and chuckle from her partner. Soul placed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of her and her eyebrows shot up at the rare gesture.

"Just thought you might want some this morning," Soul grumbled with a shrug. Maka's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She had been craving chocolate chip pancakes, but how did he know that-

She got her answer when her soul cried out for the fluffy concoctions. It wasn't so much as a cry as the sound of fluttering and the beating of wings, but she knew that Soul would be able to translate her soul's plaintive cries.

"Traitor," Maka mumbled darkly at her soul, Soul chuckling at her and his soul humming with a familiar ring of piano keys. Maka had discovered early on that different souls had different sounds, and that she could often hear them with her Soul Perception. Tsubaki's soul was the soft clang of wind chimes, BlackStar's a loud, annoying ringing. Liz and Patti's souls seemed to sing wordlessly and Kidd's soul made eight distinctive pings. She could hear Soul's soul so well because she had resonated with him so many times, and she would be lying if she said that it didn't make her proud to know that she was probably the only person who could translate the soft clang of piano keys that was her partner's soul "talking" to her.

And right now, his soul was telling her that if she didn't eat the pancakes he worked so hard to make, he would shove them down her throat without a second thought.

Maka giggled quietly as she took a bite of the pancakes, moaning at the pure perfection of the chocolaty delights. Soul's soul hummed smugly as she practically vacuumed up the rest of the pancakes on her plate.

"So," Maka said between bites, her tongue darting out of her mouth to catch the drips of syrup that had escaped (Soul's throat went dry at the sight). "What are you plans for today?" Soul shrugged and dug into his own pancakes.

"Probably just hang out with BlackStar some more. I remember last night he was going on about some guy that had done something to piss him off, so I better go and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Actually, he was off to go threaten those fuckers that had stared at _his_ meister yesterday within an inch of their lives, but Maka doesn't need to know that. Maka nodded and took another bite.

"Cool. I'm probably just going to get some housework done before we watch the movie," Maka said with a pleased little smile, cocking her head slightly off center and leaning to the side, pointing her fork at her weapon. "What time do you want to start the movie?"

"Does 7 sound good to you?" he asked leaning forward slightly. Maka nodded and swallowed the bite of pancake she had been chewing.

After doing the dishes and helping Maka get the laundry separated, Soul headed out the door with a wave, heading off to parts unknown. Maka smiled at his retreating back and hurried herself with the housework, trying desperately not to look at the clock every five minutes waiting anxiously for 7 o'clock (she only looked up every 10 minutes). Blair watched amusedly as Maka vacuumed, one of her CDs blaring at top volume and her hips moving expertly to the beat.

"You know, you're very good at that," Blair yelled over the music, her tail twitching lazily. "Maybe you should take some dance classes or something." Maka just laughed and shook her head. _'Oh Blair, if only you knew,'_ Maka thought to herself.

After cleaning the apartment as best as she could and dragging the chores out for as long as humanly possible, she could clean no more and Maka began to feel twitchy.

"It's only 3 o'clock, what am I supposed to do?" she wondered aloud, her legs thrown over the arm of her chair and her arm thrown over her eyes. Blair hopped up onto her stomach with Maka's phone between her teeth. Maka grabbed it from the magic cat and quirked an eyebrow at the beeping that meant that she had an unread text.

.:.  
To: Maka – grigorigurl5  
From: Tsubaki – camiblossom9  
Subject: Bored?  
Hey Maka! I was thinking about going out and doing some shopping. Would you like to come?  
Blair, you can come too if you wish C:

To: Tsubaki – camiblossom9  
From: Maka – grigorigurl5  
Subject: You're a mind reader.  
Blair asked you to ask me, didn't she?

To: Maka – grigorigurl5  
From: Tsubaki – camiblossom9  
Subject: No, I just know you too well.  
That obvious?  
Oh well, want to come anyways?  
.:.

Maka quirked an eyebrow at the innocently whistling cat before rolling her eyes and scooping her up in her arms.

"Alright, alright, we'll go," the meister said with a smile, making Blair meow happily before skipping off to the bathroom to get ready. Maka lazily threw on a pair of baggy jeans and a snug t-shirt, and after grabbing her wallet yelled for Blair. Blair stood in front of the blonde in half of a second, looking surprisingly demure with a pair of loose capris and a flowy top.

"What?" Blair said innocently at Maka's questioning look. "I can't be sexy all the time!" With a roll of her eyes, the two were off.

**-0-**

Maka returned home with bags in each hand, still smiling from having a relaxing afternoon with two of her friends. Blair had headed off to work, waving at Maka and winking suggestively.

"Now you and Scythe-boy don't do anything Bu-tan wouldn't, kay?" Maka smirked and quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm flattered that you think I could get that far," Maka joked, making Blair smile back and blow a kiss at her.

"Give that to Soul-kun for me!"

Maka rolled her eyes as she dropped the bags in her room. _'Yeah, sure Blair. I'll be sure to do that. NOT.'_ She did not want to think about _kissing_ Soul. She didn't _like_ Soul. She didn't like Soul she didn't like Soul she didn't like Soul-

"I'm home!"

Okay, she liked Soul (she really needed to stop lying to herself).

Maka tried desperately to calm down her frantically beating soul that was screaming out for her partner, wanting Resonance and wanting it _now_ damn it_. _She uttered a prayer of thanks to whatever kind and merciful god that was out there that had deafened her partner to her soul's antics.

With a deep breath, Maka stepped out into the kitchen, frowning when she saw that he was covered in bandages.

"Idiot," she sighed. Soul smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"That may be true, but you can't say that I don't know my partner," Soul said with a mischievous smirk, his hands behind his back. Maka quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Get ready to worship the ground I walk on Maka Albarn." With that, Soul brought his hands out from behind his back and Maka promptly squealed.

"Holy crap Soul! Freakin' Nutella! You are God, you hear me? GOD!" Maka squeaked happily, grabbing the jar and nuzzling it to her cheek, her soul fluttering happily (3). Soul smirked and shrugged.

"What did I say?" Soul smirked as he watched Maka mock-bow. "Very funny Maka," he drawled.

"Shh, I'm busy worshipping the ground you walk on," Maka said with a small smile. Soul's smirk grew wider and he nodded towards their living room.

"Yeah, well, you can do that after we're done watching the movie." Maka giggled quietly and after grabbing two spoons ran to get the movie from her room. Soul watched her leave and then plopped on the couch with a sigh. '_Probably gonna have to watch a Disney movie or some crap like that,' _he thought to himself as Maka practically skipped into the living room and popped the movie into the DVD player. His eyebrows shot up as the opening menu came onto the screen.

"Um, Maka? Did you get the right movie?" Soul asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Maka looked at him with wide innocent eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, why?" she asked, cocking her head to the left.

"You hate scary movies," Soul deadpanned, looking unamused. Maka's face went a light red and she shrugged.

"A friend recommended it," she mumbled, playing with the hem of her shirt. Soul rolled his eyes and grabbed a spoon from her, dipping it in the Nutella once before shoving it in his mouth and pressing play.

"Whaeva," he grumbled around the spoon. The albino boy leaned into the couch and Maka curled up next to him, trying to keep at least a few inches between them. The movie started and Maka grabbed the Nutella jar, scooping up a large spoonful before following Soul's example and popping it in her mouth.

The two sat in silence for the first few minutes, Soul looking over every few seconds before turning back to the movie with a slight blush. _'Okay, watching Maka eat Nutella is NOT a good idea,' _the Death Scythe thought to himself as he watched Maka lick the chocolate spread off her spoon in a way that would make any boy's brain take a nosedive into the gutter. Maka, unaware what she was doing to Soul by simply eating, wrapped one arm around her knees pulling them closer to her body. The movie hadn't gotten to the scary part, but she was already shivering slightly. _'Come on Maka! You've seen worse than this!' _she chided herself, but none the less squeaked when Nancy woke from her nightmare.

"Scared yet?" Soul teased, pulling on her ponytail lightly. Maka sneered at him and whacked his hand away.

"Y-You wish!" she stammered, glaring at him halfheartedly. Soul just smirked. The movie continued, Maka's shaking only increasing until the first death. She yelped and covered her mouth, her forest green eyes wide. As the movie continued on, Soul watched his meister with increasing concern.

"Do you want to stop the-"

"No way!" Maka squeaked. "I'm fine- HOLY CRAP!" Maka jumped nearly a foot in the air as Johnny Depp was murdered in a display of the most gore Maka has ever seen and latched onto her partner's arm, whimpering quietly. Soul's eyes widened as their souls snapped into alignment and he felt the terror in her soul. He rubbed her back comfortingly and Maka looked up at him with wide eyes.

"It's just a movie Maka," Soul said quietly, smiling slightly at his frightened meister. She nodded once, but continued to cling to Soul's arm. Soul grimaced internally at the close contact, seeing as Maka had his arm pressed against her chest in a way that made his brain temporarily shut down (he couldn't exactly call her tiny-tits now n' days). He slipped his arm from her grasp and Maka whimpered indigently, but she promptly shut up when he wrapped his now free arm around her shoulders. She curled up closer to him, smiling slightly as she hugged his waist. The two sat like that for a few more minutes, Maka occasionally squeaking and burying her face in Soul's shirt, when Soul sighed overdramatically.

"Alright that's it, we're stopping the movie," he growled, reaching for the remote.

"No wait! It's fine!" Maka protested, looking up at Soul to try and stop him. Both teens stopped cold when they realized just how _close _their faces had gotten when Soul had leaned forward for the remote. Maka gulped, but held her ground as she stared back at a pair of wide crimson eyes. Soul's pulse thrummed faster and he couldn't help but remember BlackStar's joking from the other day.

"_LAME!" BlackStar had yelled, his eyes never leaving the video game in front of him. "Just kiss her until she can't breathe. That always works!"_

'_Don't do it Soul, don't do it,' _he thought frantically, trying to keep from leaning closer. But hormones have a funny way of mutinying against our bodies, and Soul felt Maka's dizzying breath on his lips making him lose his control. Maka's eyes widened slightly as Soul shifted forward slightly, their faces centimeters apart.

'_Oh god, he's going to kiss me. HOLY CRAP SOUL IS GOING TO KISS ME! Okay, stay calm, stay calm, don't screw this up, stay CALM-'_

"YAHOO! THE GREAT ME HAS COME TO BRIGHTEN UP YOUR DAY!"

Meister and weapon pushed apart just as BlackStar kicked open their door, Tsubaki following behind with a pained expression.

"We're going to have to pay for a new door aren't we?" the ninja weapon said quietly. Maka stared with her mouth agape as the two teens strolled in, followed closely by Kidd and his two weapons.

"Wow! A movie!"Patty squealed happily, plopping herself on the floor in front of the TV and giggling creepily as blood sprayed everywhere.

"Hope you two don't mind, but we heard from Blair that you two would be watching a movie and hoped we could join you," Liz said, sitting in Maka's favorite chair. Her meister shoot Soul an apologetic look and mouthed _"I couldn't stop them."_ The five friends settled themselves down, ignorant to Maka's embarrassed blushing and Soul's feral snarl. BlackStar plopped himself down on the couch between the two teens and Soul barely restrained from strangling his blue-haired friend. _'So close! I was SO CLOSE to kissing Maka!'_

"Why you little-"

**-0-**

**(1)- A Fish is a type of lift. Go google it or something.**

**(2)- I owe whoever gets that reference some serious favors.**

**(3)- Nutella is a chocolate-hazelnut spread that fell from heaven and blesses us humans with its wonderness. It's also a wonderful movie snack, but it can be fairly provocative to watch someone eat from the spoon. One of my friends was literally told once "Okay, I cannot watch you eat that," Lol.**

**.:.**

**How many people want to kill BlackStar right now? *raises hand***

**How many people want to kill me for what I did to that puppy? *raises hand***

**RIP  
Clayton the Puppy  
Loved by All  
Dissected by Stein**

**Sorry folks, but this cockblock was necessary. Couldn't have them kissing quite yet, that comes later. Sorry for the late update but I've been a bit grounded. Rest assured, there will be more updates coming soon, but not quite as quickly.**

**I really do not like the writing in the last few pages of this story, but I'm too lazy to try and remedy it. But the fact that I got to introduce Marcus more than makes up for the fail. I LOVE MARCUS! HAVVSFVUBROBARIRBAA*foams at mouth*! Also, there's a little more Channing love in this chapter which also makes me happy! As for the texting, that's gonna play a major role in some of the later chapters, so yeah.**

**Alright, here's this chapter's art *wants moar Kari and Channing*!**

**http : / radahrock2. deviantart. com/ art/ Daring-Duet-192081764**

**Also, congrats to **TwInKi-GiRl99 **for winning last chapter's contest! Just PM me with your request and I'll have that to you soon!**

**Wow, I've got a lot to say today. Anywhom, I need some more OCs for Maka's dance class. If you or one of your OCs wants to be in the story, just leave me a comment with your character's age, name, and physical description, nothing too fancy. Its first come first serve and I need about 9 more girls and 5 more guys (I'll have to double check those numbers).**

**Well! Enjoy this chapter, and see you guys next update!**

**Random ****fact**** song of the week: Listen to "Howlin' for You" by **_**The Black Keys**_** while reading the movie watching scene. Seriously. Do it. It's Soul.**

**REVIEWS!**

**Aquatwin – Yay for squealing fangirly-ness! Yeah, I was cracking up the whole time I wrote that scene XDDD. Blushyness IS win, and yeah, I'm a big fluff person, so there's plenty of that in this story. Sorry, but we're going to have to wait a few moar chapters to find out how the secret affects them, and Soul won't be confessing anytime soon. Glad to hear you love the story and I hope you like this chapter just as much!**

**xxWARxx - *is loved* Yeah, I hate it when characters are OOC. I've literally been like "Oh, this story looks interes- Wait, OOC. Denied." Yep, hope yo like this chapter, and look forward to another chapter eventually!**

**formally know as danni55 – Yeah, I figured XD. I love writing new chapters, so this should work out well lol!**

**snowbunnie13 – You'll have to waaaaaiiit~! Flufftastic is a wonderful word, is it not? Kinda like angst. Angst is just fun to say. Angst. Annnngst.**

**JUICEMOOSE – Hmm, I never really thought of it like that. BUT NOW I HAVE! *is shot*. Everyone wants to see how Soul reacts when he finds out, but I believe the better question is how will MAKA react when he finds out? Hoho, chew on that for a week or two.**

**Domo1383 – I'm glad you like the story! Yeah, Kari and Channing have kinda pushed their way into the series in my mind. I literally cannot watch an episode of Soul Eater without imagining those two wrecking havoc (I especially love watching the third Excalibur episode now XDDD).**

**TwInKi-GiRl99 – THE DRAMA! IT BUUUUURRRRNNNS! Lol, no drama allowed, violators will be bitch slapped. Don't worry 'bout Maka, she's strong. Ouch, hope you manage to keep your friendship strong.**

**Kuchiki chappy – Yay I can come out of hiding now! Yeah, I was like "Blair, you've had your run. It's Maka's turn."**

**Techno Skittles – HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Btw, Kidd says "NO! There were 8 reviews until you RUINED THE SYMMETRY! PLEASE NO! EIGHT IS BETTER! SAY EIGHT! SAY EIIIIIIGHT! *foams at mouth and falls over***

**Soul's Anima - *raises glass* Here here! Dude, Blair and Kari = WIN. I need to write that now XD. I've got the story planned out, but I do need ideas for a one-shot series I've been thinking of writing after this story is done. The reason for all of the chapters being in French is because many of the ballet moves are in French. Also, I'm a nerd. :D**

**Reviews are donations to the "Stop Stein" Foundation!**

**V**

**V**

**V**

**V**


	5. Pourquoi avonsnous mentir?

**I don't own Soul Eater, but I do own a very warm pair of socks.**

**-0-**

**Pourquoi avons-nous mentir à ce qu'on aime?**

**« Why Do We Lie To those We Love? »**

**-0-**

Maka glared at the three girls in front of her, each wearing a pleading expression. The adrenaline from the recital she had just danced in was still pumping through her veins and she stood in the dressing rooms, clad in only a pair of ballet shorts and an oversized sweater.

"No, no, no and hell no," the blonde ground out, her teeth grinding together as her glare intensified to laser intensity. The three girls on their knees in front of her groaned simultaneously.

"Oh come on Maka!" Kari whined, latching onto one of Maka's mile long legs. "It's just one night! And I won't get too drunk this time! I swear!"

"It'll be fun Maka-chan!" Channing begged, following Kari's lead and grabbing onto Maka's other leg. "Oh please say you'll come! Oh PLEEEEASE!" The third girl tossed her long, raven hair over her shoulder and fixed Maka with an intense stare. Channing turned to the dark haired girl and made puppy eyes. "Lili-chan! Talk some sense into Maka-chan!"

"Maka," Lilith began, her green eyes narrowing. "It's tradition to go after a performance."

"Also," one girl with glasses said while she passed. "We'll resort to dragging you if we need to." Maka turned and snapped at the laughing girl.

"Yeah yeah Carly, go ahead and make jokes, but no matter what you do, I am not sneaking into a dance club with you." Kari sighed and threw her arm over Maka's shoulders.

"Don't think of it as sneaking in-" she began.

"But as early admission!" Carly cheered, brushing her dark red bangs from her face.

"Makaaa-"

"OH GOD HERE IT COMES!" Carly screeched, her blue-green eyes wide as she ran for the opposite wall.

"CHOP!" The rest of the students in the green room winced as Carly slid to halt, her mostly sandy blonde hair red with blood.

"Owwww," the downed girl moaned. Kari rolled her eyes and grabbed Maka's arm.

"Chop people all you want Maka, but you are coming with us to Trance," Kari growled. Maka cringed under her intense steely blue gaze.

"Woah, wait," Channing held up her hands. "Trance? That new club down on 3rd Avenue?" Kari nodded and Channing promptly squealed. "OHMYGOD I'VE BEEN WANTINGTO GO THERE SO BAD!" Maka frowned.

"Since apparently I need to keep reiterating this point, WE ARE UNDER AGE!" Maka enunciated.

"Aw, come on Shibusen," Marcus crooned, resting his arm on Maka's head. "You don't even have to drink, you just have to go and have fun! You need a break more than any of us." Maka bit her bottom lip and sighed. She had to admit, he was right. Ever since the almost kiss with Soul, the two had barely said two words to each other.

And that was two weeks ago (two wasn't exactly her number right now).

Needless to say, Maka was stressed. She could never pay attention in class anymore, she had to carry around a bottle of aspirin for the constant headaches, and the poor girl hadn't gotten a good night's sleep all week. Maka was also horrified to see that she was constantly shaking now, like she was just a bit too cold. Kari had mentioned that these were the same symptoms that most alcoholics experienced when they quit drinking cold turkey, but Maka had immediately shot that idea down. She was not experiencing withdrawals. She was just… catching a cold! Yeah! That's it!

…

'_Gah, I'm so pathetic! I miss Soul!'_ She missed how he would sneak up on her whenever she was cooking and tickle her half to death. She missed how he would offer her one of his ear buds in class during dissections (now he just paired up with Kilik). And though she would rather be strapped down to Stein's dissection table than admit it, Maka was desperately craving his touch, the feel of his fingers brushing against her leg in class, the feel of his strong muscles rippling under her hands when they rode on his bike, the way he would tug on her pigtail to get her attention (although he always had her attention, every minute of every day). The tiny ballerina was craving those rare moments when they were in the same room, they came so rarely now n' days. _'They're probably right. I just need to get my mind off of Soul and doing something illegal is a sure fire way to do that.'_

"Well…" Maka bit her lower lip.

"That's as much of a yes as we need!" Channing squealed happily, grabbing one of Maka's arms and dragging her towards the door. "Come on! You can get dressed at Kari-chan's place!"

"C- Channing!" Maka sputtered, reaching for her fellow dancers, most of whom who were waving and smirking at the struggling girl (Shannon was the only one to bother with checking on Carly's concussed head). "Wait! Channing! Hold up! I STILL NEED TO PUT MY PANTS ON! CHANNING!"

**-0-**

The large group of dancers stood in line, laughing and joking while the slightly older folks around them smiled. The loud music that spilled out from the club pounded through their bodies and some of the teens were already swaying their hips (Kari had convinced them all at one point or another to take a hip hop class). Maka fidgeted as she stood next to Kari and Channing, both of whom were chatting it up with some of the other dancers. _'Oh, this was so not a good idea,' _Maka thought with a groan as she looked over the group of party ready teens and dancers. Some of the girls had brought their boyfriends along, and so the group of 18 went to about 25. Maka looked over to her transformed friends and suppressed another groan. Kari looked like she was 21 with her red mini dress and high heeled boots. Her dress had only one strap and cut across her chest, displaying her strong narrow shoulders to the world. Maka smiled as she saw Marcus give two guys who were checking the brunette out the evil eye. Marcus had had a crush on Kari ever since they were 10, and Maka found it hilarious that he opted for watching her with loving chocolate eyes instead of asking her out (she knew for a fact that Kari liked him just as much as he did).

But then Maka would think of Soul and realize all over again that she and Marcus had more than a love of dance in common.

Channing bounced up and down excitedly and Maka resisted the urge to strangle the naive blonde. Channing's movements were causing some parts of her to jiggle more than others and she was drawing attention from nearly every boy in the line. Her off-the-shoulder sweater looked adorable on her, but Maka really just wanted to snatch Marcus's jacket off of his shoulders and throw it over her younger friend. It was borderline _disgusting_ to watch and Maka very much wanted to put her fist through a wall.

"Yo Kari!" Maka hissed. "Mind controlling your pet jumping bean?" she nodded towards Channing with a roll of her eyes and Kari smiled. The tall brunette reached over and placed both hands on Channing's bare shoulders.

"Dooown girl. Save it for the dance floor," Kari cooed, smoothing down Channing's hair with an affectionate pat. Channing beamed and threw her head up and down repeatedly in an exaggerated nod.

"HAI!" Maka sighed as one of the boys from their class strutted up to her with a cocky smirk.

"Maka Albarn, looking ravishing as always!" the tall boy said with a small bow, catching her calloused hand with his own and brushing his lips against her knuckles. "And may I just say that you look particularly alluring today."

"Miles, let go of my hand before I use it to knock out a few of your teeth," Maka managed to growl out, her eyes tightly closed in an attempt to control her temper. Ever since she had grown a pair of boobs, Miles Ferdinand (dancer extraordinaire and player of the year) had made it his personal mission to get into her pants. Maka wanted nothing more than to pull _his_ pants over his head in a wedgie that would make BlackStar proud. Miles represented everything about men that she hated, and the fact that he wanted nothing more than to be her dad when he grew up made him the second person on her "People to Throw Off a Cliff" list.

"Oo, that sounds kinda kinky," Miles crooned, his dark brown eyes flashing under his mop of chocolate brown hair. "What do ya say we blow this popsicle stand and then you can knock me around all you-"

"HEY FERDINAND!" Kari yelled, clenching her hand into a fist. "Back away from Maka or so help me I will throw you through that very pretty multicolored window," she threatened, her steely blue eyes narrowing dangerously as she jerked her head towards one of the club's windows, flashing different colors with the lights strobbing inside. Miles scowled and turned towards his fellow brunette.

"How about you go fuck yourself Bovim?" Miles spat out and immediately Kari's three friends all bared their teeth. Before Maka could even move, Marcus had his large hand wrapped around the idiot's throat and his soul was giving off waves of pure rage.

"Apologize._ Now_," Marcus hissed, his normally kind chocolate eyes wide with rage. Miles just laughed as the two blonde girls came up behind him, murder in their eyes. Maka faltered slightly when she felt the surface of Channing's soul crack.

"What the hell," she mumbled, quirking her head.

"NEXT!" All five teens turned to the bouncer with wide eyes. Kari smiled and batted her eyelashes.

"Oh, sorry, you'll have to excuse my friends," she drawled, looking up at the large man through her eyelashes. Maka saw Marcus's grip on Mile's throat tighten before he let the boy fall to the floor, scoffing. As Kari showed the bouncer their fake IDs, Miles smirked cockily and threw his arm over Maka's shoulder. The green eyed meister glared at him and tried to push his arm off, but when the bouncer shot her a look, she immediately stopped and smiled sweetly at the man. The bouncer's eyes moved over her figure, taking in the gold sequined tank top and black men's vest, licking his lips when he got to her jean shorts and mile long legs and quirking an eyebrow at her sneakers. He looked back up at her face and Maka made sure to bat her eyelashes and smile seductively, brushing back a strand of her loose hair with a small graceful hand. The bouncer smirked and mock bowed.

"Ya ladies are free to go in. You and your friends be sure to have a good time at Trance," he said in a smooth deep voice. Maka smiled even wider and with a subtle (but painful) jab at Mile's ribs, she and the rest of the dancers filed into the club, never looking back. If she had, Maka might have noticed the three teens standing across the street. She might have seen the boy pull out a cell phone and press a few buttons before pulling it to his ear. She just might have been able to make out the boy saying "Hey Soul, its Kidd. You might want to get down here."

But she didn't. And as Kari shoved a drink into her hands to distract her from the brunette boy smiling cockily at her, Maka didn't think twice as she sucked down the bitter drink.

**-0-**

"Hey Soul, its Kidd. You might want to get down here." Soul quirked an eyebrow as he watched the soup rotate in the microwave. The apartment was quiet, seeing as Maka was at the library (for the 6th time that week) and Blair was off probably raping some poor fish salesman. The albino 17 year old held the house phone to his ear with his shoulder, shifting his weight restlessly.

"What is it Kidd?" Soul smirked "Are you having another one of your episodes?"

"No. It's Maka." Soul's blood ran cold at the mention of his meister's name. He and Maka had hardly spoken to each other in the past two weeks, and he was missing her like crazy. Whenever they were within 15 feet of each other, Soul was torn between crushing her in a hug or running to the closest exit. _'God, why do you make me act so uncool Maka?'_

"W-what about her?" Soul managed to stammer out, wincing as he pulled the bowl of Campbell's Soup out of the microwave. That was another thing he missed, Maka's awesome cooking skills. They hadn't had a real dinner together for a few days and he was sick of instant soup and TV dinners.

"Liz, Patti, and I just saw her go into that new club Trance along with some other teens we didn't recognize." Soul froze. '_That's not right,' _he thought. _'Maka's at the library, finishing up some history paper.'_ Just as Soul opened his mouth to tell Kidd this, he hears Liz say "Tell him the other thing," in the background. Kidd gulped and Soul's eyebrows bunched down.

"Fine," Kidd grumbled. "Soul, Maka was going into this club… with a boy." Soul didn't notice the bowl crash to the floor as his entire body went numb. His brain was far too busy trying to comprehend what Kidd had just said.

Maka with a boy?

_Maka_ with a _boy_!

MAKA with a BOY!

"WHAT?" Soul hissed, grabbing the phone with such a death grip that Kidd could hear the plastic begin to crack. "What are you talking about? Maka's at the library, finishing a paper," Soul growled, baring his teeth in the empty house. "Don't joke with me Kidd or so help me I _will _rip you into three pieces."

"Kiddo-kun isn't joking though!" Patti chimed in, stealing the phone as Kidd started screaming about symmetry. "We really saw Maka-chan go into the club. She was wearing this really cute outfit and this guy wrapped his arm around her shoulders-" Patti kept babbling, but Soul wasn't listening anymore. The thought of any guy with his arm around _his _meister made the Death Scythe see red. And the fact that she had lied to him made his soul drop past his stomach into his feet. '_W-why would she lie to me?' _

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a small red demon smirked as his host slipped towards the madness.

"- and the bouncer was all like 'Ya baby, go on in-" Patti babbled on, oblivious to the murderous aura that Soul practically oozed, his soul screaming in a fierce clang of piano keys.

"I'll talk to you guys later," Soul growled out, pressing the "END" button before slamming the phone back in its cradle with much more force than was necessary.

Maka was with a guy.

"_You deserved this," _the brain imp cackled.

Maka was with a guy who _wasn't him._

"_Really, I'm surprised this hasn't happened earlier," _the little demon continued. _"She could do so much better than you. And especially after how you've been treating her lately. I bet that she's in that club, dancing with _some guy. _Later she'll be kissing _some guy_ and maybe if he gets lucky she'll let him-"_

Soul was out the door before the demon could finish that thought.

The door nearly fell off its hinges as Soul slammed the door closed and shot down the hall towards his bike, making a quick mental checklist like Maka always did.

_1. Find Maka._

_2. Punch in the face of the guy she's with._

_3. Drag Maka's fine ass home and apologize until I'm hoarse._

As his bike came to life under him, Soul growled and bared his sharp teeth. "Damn brain imp. I know I fucking deserve it. I was an ass to her and I already fucking know! I don't need you gloating in the back of my head!" Soul tightened his grip on the bike's handle bars as he shot down the road, and the little red imp smirked as his knuckles went white.

"_Ah yes, but it's so amusing to watch your reactions." _Soul resisted the urge to bang his head into something hard as he turned onto 3rd Avenue 10 minutes later. The pulsing music that came from the two story warehouse that had been recently turned into a club grated against his nerves, and he was scowling as he pulled up in front of a startled shinigami and his two pistols.

"That was fast," Kidd frowned, straightening his tie. Soul considered telling him that he probably speeded all the way, but instead settled for "I live close by." Kidd's frown deepened, but he wisely stayed quiet.

"So what are you going to do now?" Liz deadpanned, one eyebrow arched. Soul scowled as he looked at the building.

"Find Maka, punch in the face of the guy she's with, and then drag her pale ass home," he growled out as he took a step forward, only to find his way blocked by the taller of Kidd's weapons.

"Oooh no you don't mister," Liz growled out. "Maka probably went there with this guy on a date, and no matter how much you don't like it you are not going to ruin her night-"

"She lied to me Liz!" Soul roared, slipping a little closer to the madness. Kidd's amber eyes widened when he felt all of the complicated emotions swirling around in his friend's soul. Confusion, betrayal, pain, rage, possessiveness, the desire to protect the girl he loved from anything and anyone. But mainly, he could feel betrayal and rage, along with the madness that was slowly taking control of Soul in this weakened state.

"She fucking lied to me and you expect me to just sit back and do nothing!" Soul continued, the words falling out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Hate to break it to you, but that's not the kind of person I am! Besides, I can feel Maka's soul! She is not happy to be with this guy, and she is so smashed right now she can barely see straight!" The albino scythe stood up straight, thanking his recent growth spurt that made him taller than Liz. "So if you don't mind, I'm going to go get my meister back and try to keep her from doing something unusually stupid!" Liz stared at him with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before smirking and shaking her head.

"What's that you said once Kidd? Oh, yeah, weapons love blindly, don't they?" Soul's face went an interesting shade of red and Liz smiled. "Go get 'er Tiger." Soul scowled at her, but Liz's smile was infectious and he shook his head, smirking.

"You Thompson sisters," he drawled. "You're crazy, you know that right?" Both Patti and Liz smiled at this and Kidd just groaned.

"You don't have to live with them," the death god moaned. But he smiled when he felt the madness that had begun to take a hold on his friend's soul disappear. The four teens turned towards the club and crossed the street, Soul in the lead with the two sisters flanking him and Kidd coming up the rear. The bouncer took one look at the demon scythe and moved to stand in front of the door.

"Sorreh, no more people allowed in," the large man said, flexing one beefy hand. Soul smirked and the man blanched at the sight of his sharp teeth.

"Oh, well we just need to run in and grab a friend of ours," Soul drawled, strutting up to the door. He frowned when the bouncer put his arm in between him and the door (and effectively his meister). "Hey now-"

"No. More. Admission," the man growled out. Soul growled back, and his eyes darkened to the color of freshly spilt blood. The man opened his mouth to tell the scary teenager to back away, but instead he found the boy grabbing onto his arm and pulling his lithe form up, swinging his foot around and smashing his sneaker into the bouncer's mouth. The large man flew backwards and the rest of the people in line watched in horror as the four teens strolled casually into the club, as if they knocked out 247 pound men every day.

When they stepped into the club, Soul wrinkled his nose at the smell of alcohol and sweat that hung off of the people who were grinding seductively on the dance floor. The club was split into three levels, the center of the second and third floors "hollowed" out and stairs on both sides. The third floor was reserved for people to sit and drink, some private rooms lining the back wall. The second floor was filled with people dancing and waitresses walking around with drinks on their trays. A large dance floor dominated the bottom level, a bar on the left side of the room. There were about 80 people "dancing" on the floor, but Soul noticed that one section of the floor was cleared, a few teens actually dancing and laughing while the people around watched in awe.

"Alright," Soul began looking around the club with his eyes narrowed in distaste. "Let's split up and try to find Maka. What was she wearing?"

Kidd looked at him with a 'How the fuck would I know' kind of look while both Thompson sisters relayed "Gold sequined top, black vest, denim short shorts, and purple converse," as easily as if he had asked them the color of the sky. Both boys looked at them with quirked eyebrows, but Soul just shook his head.

"Okaaay, let's go find Maka-"

"Found her!" Patti cried happily, pointing out towards the dance floor. Soul grabbed the railing as his eyes raked the crowd.

"Where?" he growled. Patti grabbed his head and turned it to the right, where Soul's jaw promptly dropped.

It was Maka alright. She was dancing with some guy he didn't recognize, but that wasn't what shocked him the most. What shocked him was Maka's dancing.

"Wow, I didn't know Maka could dance," Liz cheered, voicing Soul's thoughts exactly. His eyes couldn't leave her and he was pretty sure that her hips were lulling him into trance. Her eyes were half lidded and her face was glowing with the alcohol she had consumed. Maka's feet moved with surprising certainty for someone who was so drunk and Soul was vaguely aware that he had started drooling.

The Death Scythe snapped out of his Maka-induced trance the second the boy she was dancing with began to grind against her with a cocky smirk. Soul began to see red again and he considered jumping over the railing. He instead opted for stomping down the stairs, his hands curled into tight fists.

Ooohhh, he was going to enjoy this.

**-0-**

Miles smirked as he felt the drunken blonde move her hips in time with his. After that first drink, the player had made sure that Maka's hand was never empty, and look at how well it had turned out. Normally at this point, he would have a black eye, but instead Maka was dancing with him in a way that made his brain fuzzy with lust. What made it even better was the fact that Bovim and her little boyfriend were standing on the sidelines, watching them with murder in their eyes.

_And they couldn't do anything._

Miles smirk grew and he turned Maka around so that her chest was pressed against his and continued to dance seductively with her. Suddenly, he felt a hand over his face, yanking him away from the pretty girl.

"Hey now! Get your fucking hands off me Marcus!" The boy growled, flailing his arms trying to reach the other dancer. The fingers over his right eye slid open and Miles felt his blood run cold. This boy was definitely _not _Marcus. His white hair hung messily in his face, but he could still see his blood red eyes sparking with barely restrained fury. His lip pulled back in an evil sneer and Miles' felt his stomach hit the floor. He looked like a fucking shark with those sharp teeth that looked ready to rip his throat out. The albino teen wore a leather jacket over a loose t-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans that barely hung onto his lean hips.

"Sorry bud," the boy growled out, his deep, rough voice striking fear into the brunette's very soul. "But you aren't that lucky." Soul pulled back his fist and let it snap forward with as much force as he could, smirking when the boy fell onto his butt, clutching at his broken nose.

"HOLY FUCK MAN!" Soul slammed his foot into the boy's chest and pushed him down, crouching down with his knee digging into his victim's ribs. Miles' eyes widened in fear when in a flash of light, Soul's right arm turned into a _freakin' scythe _from the elbow down. The demon weapon slammed the blade into the dance floor right next to Miles' face, giving the dancer an impromptu haircut.

"The next time you even think about touching my meister, or even look at her with those disgusting eyes, I will not hesitate to chop you into a pulp and feed you to my cat," Soul hissed, baring his teeth and narrowing his eyes into slits. "Do you understand me?"

Miles opened his mouth and then closed it again, his eyes wide in fear. He had heard a rumor that Maka was a meister at Shibusen, but seeing her partner up _this _close was making him painfully aware of how true that rumor was. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!" Maka's partner roared, pressing down painfully on his chest.

"Yes! Yes I understand! I understand it perfectly!" Miles squeaked, his dull brown eyes widening in pure horror. The boy on top of him snarled and pulled his blade out from where he had it wedged by his head. Pushing himself up, he pointed a long tan finger at Miles' shivering form.

"If I ever hear about you causing problems for Maka again, I _will_ come after you, and it _won't _be pretty," he growled. Miles nodded, his eyes wide. Soul smirked and turned from the frightened boy, his hands in his pockets. He froze when he saw the startled gaze of about 20 more teenagers, one of whom he recognized as Kari. Some their eyes went to the whimpering boy on the floor, and Soul nervously scratched the back of his neck.

"Wow, um, this is awkward-"

"QUICK!" Kari screamed, a devilish smirk coming across her features. "KICK HIM WHILE HE'S DOWN!" The brunette ran over to the downed boy and kicked him viciously in the ribs with her heels, eliciting a pained yelp. A small, pretty blonde jumped onto his chest and began to pull his hair, screaming "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR TOUCHING MY MAKA-CHAN DUMBASS!" Soul watched with wide eyes as three other girls joined the fray, the boy's cries ignored by the other teens. A tall, dark skinned teen walked over to Soul and stuck out his hand, smiling widely.

"So you must be Maka's partner Soul. I'm Marcus, one of Maka's friends. She's talked a lot about you." Soul stared at the boy with wide eyes for a few seconds before shaking his hand.

"Soul Eater. So tell me, how do you know Maka, and who did I just punch in the face?" Marcus laughed and jerked his thumb towards the boy curled up in a ball on the floor.

"That jackass is Miles Ferdinand and it's about fucking time someone punched him in the face." The taller boy sighed. "I'm just sad it wasn't me. And as for how I know Maka, we went to the same school before she went to Shibusen and I'm close with some of her other friends like Kari," he pointed to the brunette currently dumping as many drinks as she could over the injured boy's head, "and Channing." Soul looked towards the smaller blonde who was giggling manically and quirked an eyebrow. His attention was quickly diverted when he heard the taller boy screech "HEY SHIBUSEN! LET GO OF THAT GUY'S ARM AND GET YOUR PALE ASS BACK OVER HERE!" Soul's head whipped around to see a very drunk Maka clinging onto Kidd's arm, pouting and fluttering her eyelashes.

"But Marcuuuus!" the tiny meister whined, making the biggest puppy eyes Soul had ever seen. "I just wanted to-" Suddenly Maka stopped, her eyes landing on Soul. She stared at him for a few seconds before quirking her head to the side. Soul raised an eyebrow as Maka continued to stare at him. Maka's eyes widened in recognition and she ran to Soul, squealing happily.

"SOUL!" the blonde cried happily, tackle glomping her partner and throwing him to the floor.

"HOLY CRAP MAKA!" Soul yelled, his crimson eyes wide. Maka was straddling his stomach and leaned over so that her face was an inch away from his. She smiled widely and he could smell alcohol on her breath.

"You came!" the drunken meister said happily, placing her hands on either side of Soul's head and giving him a rather excellent view down her shirt (though she didn't seem to care). Soul's face went an interesting shade of red and Marcus couldn't help but laugh as the poor albino tried to detangle himself from his meister's long limbs.

"Yeah Maka, I'm here, now could you please get off me?" Soul asked, pushing the girl's shoulders. Maka scrambled off him, and once he had gotten up and offered her his hand to help her get up she smiled widely, her bright green eyes sparkling with unbarred amusement. She stumbled a little as she got up, but Soul quickly grabbed her, wrapping a strong arm around her waist and drawing her arm over his shoulders. Marcus smiled as Kari walked over, scratching the back of her head.

"Sorry about Maka," the brunette girl drawled sheepishly. "I gave her one drink when we got here, but that dumbass Miles made sure that her glass was always full, so she kinda… yeah." Soul glared at her, but now that he had Maka back in his sight, he wasn't as mad as he was earlier.

Also, punching in that boy's face had helped with his slight anger issues.

Maka giggled drunkenly as she wrapped her arms around Soul's waist, burying her face into his neck. Soul face burned red and he tried to hide his blush from Maka's smirking friend.

"Well, we better get going-" Soul grumbled out, only to be interrupted when a small bundle of blondeness that Marcus had identified as Channing came and looked at Soul with pleading eyes.

"Don't leave yet!" The girl pleaded, her big blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears. Soul gulped, the girl's puppy expression breaking down his resolve. Maka quickly joined her fellow blonde and both girls stared at him with wide eyes.

"Okay, fine!" Soul groaned. Both blondes squealed happily and began to jump up and down. Soul rolled his eyes and leaned against the bar, watching Maka being dragged onto the dance floor by both Channing and Kari. Liz and Patti quickly joined the fray and Kidd joined Soul at the bar.

"You sure about this Soul?" the Shinigami asked, his amber eyes glinting in the flashing lights. Soul sighed and rubbed his temples.

"For now I guess. I won't be able to talk to Maka properly while she's drunk like this, so might as well let her have some fun tonight," the Death Scythe explained, his crimson eyes dull. Kidd reached over and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure Maka had a good reason for what she did," Kidd reassured, but Soul just continued to watch Maka, laughing and having fun while completely unaware of her weapon's eyes faithfully following her every move.

"If it makes you feel any better," Kari said as she walked up to the two boys, ordering a drink quickly, "Maka feels awful about lying to you."

"Then why would she do it!" Soul hissed, glaring at the tall girl. Kari sighed and played with the straw in her drink. If she hadn't promised Maka to never tell a soul (Teehee) about her dancing, she would've told her partner everything right here and now, but it wasn't Kari's secret to tell. Instead, Kari sighed and turned towards the angry albino boy.

"Soul, if I could, I would tell you, but its Maka's choice when and if she tells you. But I wouldn't worry too much about it," Kari smiled. "I've known Maka for as long as I can remember, and when she really cares about someone, she's willing to trust them with everything." Soul's eyes widened slightly when Kari fixed him with her steely blue eyes. "Maka trusts you. More than anyone she's ever known, so it's only a matter of time before she tells you everything. But when she does, you have to keep an open mind or you'll end up driving her away." Soul nodded mutely, and Kari smiled fondly at him. She punched his shoulder lightly and he found himself smiling. "You're a good guy, and I can tell you care about Maka a lot. You two will become stronger partners after this whole thing is over, but for now just put up with Maka's stubbornness."

"SOOOOOUL!" Maka ran over to her three friends, her forest green eyes shining with barely controlled happiness. "Come dance with me!" Soul's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"Ooooh no. No Maka, I am not dancing."

"Oh come on Soul," Maka whined. "I know you're a good dancer!" Kari quirked an eyebrow and looked at Soul with a small smile.

"You dance?" She asked, her eyes lighting up. Scoffing, Soul rolled his eyes and pushed Maka back again.

"Parents made me learn ballroom when I was a kid, but besides DDR, no, I don't dance." Kari's smile just grew.

"This I gotta see. Go ahead Soul, dance with your meister," Liz drawled in her clipped New York accent, grabbing Kari's drink from the counter and draining it in one go. Maka, only half aware of the conversation going on around her, pulled harder on Soul's arm.

"PLEEEASE!" she whined, her voice reaching an interesting decibel. Soul cringed.

"Okay, fine!" He snapped, his right eye twitching noticeably. As the two teens walked onto the floor (more like one _dragged_ the other onto the floor), Kidd turned to the brunette chatting with his weapon.

"So, how do you know Maka?" he asked politely. Kari laughed and stared into her empty glass.

"When we were six, Maka and I were in the same ballet class. I had just lost my dad in a car accident and my mom was in a coma, so I was pretty bitchy back then. One day, we had to partner up with another student and no one wanted to be paired up with the crazy girl who had just lost half of her family. I was just about ready to leave the class and never come back when Maka walked over and asked me if I would pair up with her. We've been best friends ever since, and if it weren't for Maka, I wouldn't be where I am today."

"You're just full of sappy speeches today, aren't you?" Kari laughed as Marcus came up behind her.

"Blame the alcohol," she smirked.

"So alcohol makes you prone to flash backs and bouts of sappiness? Good to know, good to know!" Kari punched the taller teen in the shoulder, but Marcus just kept laughing. Kidd smiled at the two teens and quickly ordered a drink.

When in Rome…

**-0-**

Soul sighed exasperatedly as his meister dragged him onto the floor, giggling manically. Maka stumbled a bit and the albino weapon sighed when he realized that dancing with a drunk Maka meant trying to keep her upright. '_Fun!' _he thought sarcastically. The DJ put on a new, equally fast paced song (though this one was definitely more rockish) and Soul blanched a bit when Maka turned and stared at him, smiling at him like he had made her entire freakin' day by just standing there.

"… Soooo," he drawled, rolling his eyes. "You're gonna need to show me how to do this, because I don't have clue." Maka's smile just grew wider as Soul held out both of his hands. She quickly grabbed them and spent a moment just holding them in her hands, marveling over their size and warmth. Soul coughed and Maka focused back on the task at hand. She directed his hands to her hips, smiling when she saw how well his hands fit there. _'Like they were made to fit!'_ the drunken girl marveled. Soul on the other hand, was on the verge of having a panic attack. As Maka moved her hands to the back of his neck, he could only focus on the feel of her hips under his hand.

"Okay, so now you just start moving your hips!" Maka chirped happily, shaking Soul out of his thoughts. Both teens began to move in sync, years of battling together tuning them to each other's movements. "Yeah! Like that!" The tiny blond meister giggled and Soul found himself chuckling along with her. The chuckling stopped though when Maka pressed herself closer to Soul. He tried getting away again but Maka pouted and pulled him back, whispering in his ear "This is how you're supposed to dance."

'_Not good not good not good notgoodnotgoodnotgood!' _ Soul closed his eyes and tried to focus anywhere but on the girl dancing seductively against him. He found himself mindlessly drawing circles on his meister's hip with his long, calloused fingers, trying to distract him from her chest pressed against his own. Maka began to squirm and giggle, arching her back to try and get away from his mindless ministrations (AN – That sentence just sounded plain _wrong_). Soul immediately took a long step back.

"Oooookay! That's enough dancing for one night," Soul managed to cough out, his face the color of a ripe tomato. Maka quirked her head to the side and blinked innocently.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her tone one of complete innocence. _'Um, yeah. You're drunk and defenseless and if I don't get away from you in the next five seconds I am going to jump your skinny bones and drag you up to one of those private rooms on the third floor,' _Soul thought, his brow beaded with sweat.

"Um, I just, uh, I'm not… wearing the right shoes for dancing!" Soul blurted out. Two girls who were dancing nearby turned and regarded him with quirked eyebrows. He recognized them as part of the group who had beaten up Miles. One of the girls was tall, with brown off the shoulder hair and the other was medium height with sandy blonde hair. Both girls had red in their hair and were dressed to look like rock stars, only without the horrible smell and greasy hair.

"Smoooooth," the taller girl drawled, her dark eyes sparking with mischief. Soul growled at them both, but they just laughed.

"Ooooh scary. How 'bout you jus- Oh crap. Shannon, we've got a problem." Shannon's eyes widened as the other girl pointed across the room. Both girls began to push through the crowd, running to Kari. Kari looked over from where she was chatting with Liz and quirked an eyebrow at the two out of breath girls.

"Carly, Shannon, what's up?" she asked, her steely blue eyes narrowed.

"Code Red! Club manager has spotted our group and has just hung up the phone!" Carly blurted out, her blue-green eyes flashing with horror.

"We're in soooooo much trouble!" Shannon moaned as Kari shot straight up.

"_Shit!_" she hissed. "Tell everyone to scatter, head towards the door with a large group and exit unseen. Marcus and Kidd, you guys collect any stragglers!" Kari barked, the six teens around her standing at attention.

"Yes Ma'am!" they all shouted in unison. Carly ran up to the DJ's booth and after quickly whispering something to the man, he nodded and put a new song on.

Maka shot straight up when she heard the call song, her eyes shining with horror. Soul watched her warily as her eyes began to dart around the room, searching desperately for the other teens in her group. When she saw them all scattering, she cussed and grabbed Soul's hand.

"SHIT!" she screeched, running towards the stairs that lead towards the exit.

"Maka! What's going on!" Soul barked, his crimson eyes wide in concern. Maka turned and when he saw the horror in her gaze he grabbed her shoulders. "MAKA! Tell me what's wrong!"

"That was the Code Red Song! It's the signal to leave, because someone has most likely called the cops! Now let's GO!" Maka said, her eyes wide. Soul nodded and pulled her towards the exit. Both teens stopped when they saw the bouncer from before guarding the door. His cheek was swollen and red, and he was PISSED.

"Okay!" Soul yelled over the music, his eyes wide. "Let's try again!" He dragged Maka towards the other side, but both teens stopped when they saw a man wearing a suit heading in their direction.

"The manager!" Maka gasped. Soul cursed and pushed her against the wall. They both flattened themselves as the manager passed, walking towards the bouncer. "Soul, we've gotta hide!" she whimpered, pulling him closer to her shaking form. Soul searched the room with narrowed crimson eyes, but was greeted by nothing.

"We're trapped!" he hissed. Maka turned to him with wide eyes.

"Well then we've got to blend!" the Death Scythe quirked an eyebrow and looked around.

"Maka, all I see are people are dancing and making out. There's no exit or convenient hiding place. Like I said we're trapped!" Soul ranted. He went silent when Maka grabbed his belt loops and pulled him to her, one hand on his neck pulling him down to eye level.

"Like I said," she whispered in his ear, her voice husky. "Blend."

When Soul imagined his first kiss, he always pictured it while saying good night after a romantic and super cool evening with a beautiful girl (he also pictured ashy blonde hair and forest green eyes, but let's not focus on that). So when Maka pulled him down and pressed her lips clumsily against his, Soul probably should've been a little disappointed.

_That couldn't be further from the truth._

She tasted a bit like alcohol, but Soul quickly disregarded that as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer to him. His crimson eyes flickered closed and he had to search through the Maka induced fog in his brain to remember what it was they were supposed to be hiding from. '_Oh yeah, crazy ass bar manager and co.' _Maka pulled back and quickly whispered "Give me your jacket." Soul pressed his lips against hers again as he shrugged off his leather jacket, passing it to Maka who quickly pulled it on. He shifted so that the flashing lights hit the back of his head, making his stark white hair appear red… no, blue… wait, gold… and now it's- (AN- OH YOU GET MY POINT!). Soul watched out of the corner of his eye as the manager and bouncer began walking towards them again. He hissed and grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her closer, trying to hide her from the two men, but his brain shut down when Maka moaned and tangled her fingers in his hair.

"Hey have you two se-ooooh," the manager winced as he watched the two people against the wall make out passionately. "Never mind. I see that you two are…busy." The two men walked away and Maka pulled back slightly, watching them leave with a sexy smirk.

"And that's how you blend," she whispered. "Okay, Soul, I think we're-" Maka's eyes flew open when Soul kissed her again.

"Maybe we should stay like this, just in case they come back," the albino teen whispered, dragging the tip of his nose up her jaw, making his meister shiver.

"O-okay," Maka managed to gasp out, her lips finding Soul's easily. She ran her hands up his chest, twirling her fingers into his hair again. The alcohol made Maka's Soul Perception all funny, but even through the fog in her mind (both alcohol and Soul induced) she could feel their souls syncing after two weeks of complete soul dissonance.

"SOUL! MAKA! We need to get out of- Woah." Kidd came to a complete halt, making Liz and Patti smack into his back. Liz growled and pushed Kidd roughly.

"Hey you symmetry obsessed freak! What's the big id-Woah!" Liz's jaw dropped as she watched two of her best friends quote "suck face" (end quote). "About time!" she cheered. Soul and Maka slowly pulled apart, neither one looking away from the other.

"As happy as I am about this development," Kidd said hesitantly. "We need to leave. _NOW_." Soul nodded and began to pull Maka after him, his face still slightly red. As the group passed one of the many waitresses that paraded the second floor, Maka reached out and grabbed a shot, downing it quickly. An uncomfortable warmth had settled in the bottom of her stomach, and she hoped that the alcohol would burn it away. No such luck. Maka sighed as she watched her partner with cloudy green eyes.

"Soul…"

**-0-**

Kari bit her lip as she looked across the group of teens that had gathered a block away from the club. The teens from Shibusen weren't here, why weren't they here? She began to pace back and forth, pulling her fingers nervously, a nervous habit she had developed when she was six.

"Don't worry Kari-chan," Channing said with a nervous smile. "I'm sure they'll be here soon." Kari just moaned, burying her head in her hands.

"Oh god, Spirit is going to kill me if Maka gets arrested-" All of the teens on the sidewalk looked up when they heard the loud purr of a motorcycle. Kari looked up with wide steel blue eyes and watched as Soul pulled up to the curb on a sleek red motorcycle (his orange one had been trashed while fighting a particularly nasty kishin egg), a very drunk Maka clinging onto his waist.

"Okay, now that is bad ass," Shannon said with wide eyes, Carly and Lilith whistling slowly in the background.

"Daaaaaamn," Marcus licked his lips. "What I wouldn't give to drive that baby around." Soul narrowed his eyes and scowled.

"My bike. You no touchy," he growled, earning a weak Maka-chop from the girl sitting behind him.

"Soul, don't be an ass," his meister sighed, his green eyes half-lidded. Soul watched her with worry burning in his crimson eyes. "Let's just go home, m'kay?"

"That's a great idea Maka," Kidd said from his spot in the air, Liz and Patti in his hands and Beezlebub puttering under his feet. Half of the kids on the curb felt their jaws hit the floor at the sight of the boy flying right in front of them, carrying two pistols. Some of the dancers even squeaked when they saw Patti shift back into a human, smiling widely.

"HAHA! Maka's such a funny drunk!" the blonde cackled, her bright blue eyes sparking with mirth. Kari looked at the demon pistol with wide eyes, then back at Channing. Patti, Channing, Patti, Channing.

"Remind me to never leave those two in a room alone," she mumbled, slightly stunned. Soul nodded silently in agreed and revved his bikes engine (Marcus drooled at the sound).

"Well, as interesting as this night has been, I need to get Maka home," the Death Scythe yelled over the motorcycle's engine. Kari nodded and yelled back "Try to get as much of the alcohol out of her system as possible! She's a total bitch in the morning if you don't!" With Maka waving good bye, Soul sped off. _'Great, now how am I going to explain this all to Maka?' _he pondered, biting his lip and instantly regretting it, his lip bleeding slightly.

Now that his head was clear, he was slightly _fearing for his life._ When Maka was sober, she was going to kill him for kissing her like that. Admittedly, it had was necessary in the situation (or so he kept telling himself) and it had kept them both from going to jail, but it was totally inappropriate for Soul to kiss his meister so… fiercely. From day one, weapons had had a warning pounded into their heads by Shibusen's finest teachers. "_Do not fall in love with your meister. Almost 60 percent of weapon-meister relationships result in a loss of soul synchronization and could very possibly result in death." _

Soul shivered, and not just from the chill night air whipping his face. It was taboo to develop anything but platonic feelings for your meister, it was simply too dangerous. If it didn't result in the two partners permanently splitting up, it would crash and burn later on. He had watched as it happened to Maka's family, and he was horrified to try and test his limits with Maka. He cared too damn much about her to let their friendship fall apart because of his own selfish desires. _'A month ago, I would have thought that Maka and I had too strong of a partnership for that to happen to us, but now… Now I'm not so sure.' _Two weeks of awkward silences and avoiding each other like the plague had taught him that lesson the hard way, and that was only an almost kiss. Imagine what a full make out session would do to their partnership (it was a scary thought).

Through their newly restored soul link Soul could feel Maka's soul fluttering, seeming to ask him what was wrong. "I'm fine Maka," the albino boy sighed, watching the buildings of downtown Death City pass them by in a blur.

"No you're not," the green-eyed girl mumbled, her hair whipping around her face. "I can easily feel your worry, and I'm drunk!" Soul had to laugh at this, throwing his head back and letting lose a deep, reverberating laugh to trail behind them. Maka shivered pleasantly at the feel of his laughs under her hands.

"Tell me something I don't know!" he gauffed out, smirking widely.

"Um, my favorite color is yellow?" Maka said with a small smile, resting her head on Soul's shoulder.

"Sorry, try again," her weapon said with a smirk, trying to blow a piece of Maka's hair out of his line of vision (it had viciously attacked his face when she had shifted).

"My favorite band is Needtobreath?"

"Knew that."

"I'm terrified of penguins." (1)

"Now that's just ridiculous."

"They're birds that swim but don't fly!" Maka cried. "Am I the only one that thinks that's just _wrong_!" Soul laughed again and this time Maka joined him.

"True, but I knew that too, so try again," he said, pulling into the garage of their apartment complex. Maka pouted (Soul blanched at the sight of her bruised and swollen lips) and made a small "Hmmm," sound. Soul shook his head and lifted Maka off the bike. As the two partners made their way up the stairs, Maka's 'deep in thought' expression never leaving her heart shaped face. As Soul fumbled with the house key, Maka's face lit up.

"Ooh! I found one!" she exclaimed, linking her fingers behind her back, leaning forward slightly. Soul rolled his eyes and crouched down to get a better view of the key hole.

"Do continue," he drawled sarcastically. Maka smiled innocently and leaned down so that her face was next to Soul's (his tongue poked out of the side of his mouth in concentration).

"I don't go to the library on library days," she sang, happy that she had found something that Soul couldn't possibly know. Soul growled at his stubborn keys.

"Yeah right Maka, you're just making crap up," he said with a sigh. "You must be drunker than I thought." (2)

"I didn't make it up!" Maka said indignantly. Soul opened his mouth to suggest that Maka go lay down once he got this fucking door open, but his throat dried up when he felt her soul shake, demanding to be inspected. He could feel that she wasn't lying, but that would mean-

Maka watched with a pout as the keys slipped through Soul's fingers. With a loud sigh, Maka picked them up and quickly popped them in the lock, ignoring her weapon's dumbstruck expression. He looked like he had just been hit in the face with a very large, raw fish.

"Really Soul, I can hardly see straight and I got the door unlocked on the first try-" Maka was cut off when two large hands spun her around, clamping down on her shoulders and holding her still as her world rocked like a tugboat in the middle of a hurricane. "Hey now-"

"What do you mean you don't go to the library on library days?" Soul hissed, his eyes narrowed and burning with crimson fury. Maka blinked once and quirked her head to the side.

"I mean I don't go to the library on library days," she said slowly for his benefit, since apparently he was a little slow tonight. Soul's hands slipped down to the top of her arms and she squirmed at his tight grip.

"So you've been _lying _to me for the past six years!" Soul all but screamed, his soul clanging loudly as it tried to make sense of what Maka had just said.

"Well I guess if you put it that way it sounds really bad, now could you let go of my arms I think you're leaving a bruise-"

"TELL ME THE TRUTH!" Soul roared, baring his sharp teeth for Maka to see. The tiny blonde flinched, her cloudy green eyes wide. "STOP LYING TO ME DAMNIT!" he continued, shaking with rage as he began to slip towards the madness again as his world fell apart.

"Soul stop, you're hurting me!" Maka cried, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

"I'LL LET GO WHEN YOU TELL ME THE TRUTH!" Soul screamed, his entire body shaking furiously and the small brain imp giggling manically. Maka let out a chocked sob, her arms burning as her partner broke down in front of her. The blonde's salvation came in the form of a streak of purple bursting in through the window. Blair quickly shifted into a woman and with a grunt pushed Soul back, standing in front of Maka protectively.

"Leave Maka-chan alone Soul!" she hissed, her ears flattening against her head (the fact that she had called Soul by his actual name was enough to let you know she was pissed). Maka collapsed onto the floor, her arms beginning to bruise an ugly purple where Soul had grabbed her and tears rolling freely down her pale cheeks. Soul shook his head, shaking the madness from his soul, and looked at his meister with horror in his red eyes.

"Oh god, Maka," he breathed, his red eyes wide. "Maka I'm so sorry-"

"Stay away!" Blair screeched, her nails elongating into claws as Soul tried to take a step forward. "You stay away from her!" Soul watched with wide eyes as Blair dropped down to her knees, comforting the sobbing girl that she affectionately thought of as a little sister.

"There there," the cat woman cooed."Bu-chan will keep the mean boy away," she said helpfully as she led Maka to her room. Soul ignored their exit, staring at his hands in horror. '_Oh god, what did I do?_' he thought to himself. He didn't realize he had fallen to his knees until Blair's face entered his line of vision, her amber eyes practically burning a hole into his head.

"What on earth is WRONG with you Soul!" Blair hissed. Soul looked up at her and tried to speak, his mouth opening and closing. Blair's eyes softened when she saw his horrified expression.

"I… I…" The albino boy choked on his breath and buried his head in his hands. "Oh god Blair. What- what's wrong with me!" he breathed, his body shaking, not from rage but from horror. Blair reached out and rubbed his back.

"Soul-kun just had a little meltdown, nya?" Blair cooed. Soul looked at her and her heart broke at the heart wrenching expression he wore. "Tell Bu-chan what happened, it'll make you feel a lot better." So Soul told her that night's events, everything from Kidd's phone call up until Blair bursting in through the window.

"Wow," Blair breathed, her eyes wide. "That's… Wow." Soul looked at her with pain filled eyes as she tapped her chin with her finger, looking up at her forehead as if the answers were written there. "Bu-chan thinks that you just need to relax for a while. The black blood seems to act up whenever you're feeling any sort of strong negative emotion, and because you're soul is tied so closely with Maka-chan's, its affects seem to increase whenever the situation involves her." Blair stood up, pulling Soul up with her and navigating the numb Death Scythe to the couch. "You just calm down while Bu-chan tries to fix up Maka-chan's arms, and once I'm done, you can come in and say sorry, m'kay?" Soul nodded, and with a quick motherly peck on the top of his snow white hair, Blair patted his back comfortingly.

"Don't worry, Scythe boy! I'm sure Maka-chan will forgive you!" Blair said happily. "She cares a lot about you, so I'm sure everything will be just fine!" Soul nodded, his expression still solemn. Blair padded down the hall, stopping only once to grab a spell book from the hall closet.

"Healing isn't exactly my forte, but Bu-chan will get it no problem!" Blair said softly to herself. Soul watched with dull eyes as she slipped noiselessly into Maka's room. Sighing, Soul dragged his hands down his face, wincing when he looked at the rough, tanned appendages. _'How could I just snap like that? What happen-' _Soul's eyes widened when he heard a snort of laughter from somewhere in the back of his head, and almost simultaneously the albino boy's lip pulled back in a sneer. _'Why that little freak of nature!' _Soul leaned back against the couch, and for the first time in nearly a year, closed his eyes and delved into his soul.

The Black Room hadn't changed since he was last here. Instinctively, Soul strode over to the piano, knowing that if the brain imp was here, he would be by the piano.

"_Oooh, I do believe I have made you a bit mad," _the red man cackled, gnawing on his swollen hands. Soul strode towards him, red eyes burning. The imp just began to cackle, but was cut off when it's host slammed him into a wall, holding him up by the throat.

"Don't you _ever,_" Soul hissed, "Touch my meister again or so help me I will-"

"_You'll do what Soul?" _the imp cackled. "_I am a part of you, you can't hurt me without hurting yourself. And that pretty little meister of yours." _Soul's eyes widened and he unconsciously loosened his grip on the imp just slightly. "_That's right, because your souls are so closely linked hurting me will hurt Maka as well. Why, she might even die from the stress on her soul!"_

Hissing, Soul released the red imp onto the floor, glaring holes through his large, bulbous skull. The imp began to laugh, and Soul's eye developed a twitch. '_Screw this,' _he thought angrily, right before picking the imp up and drop kicking him to the other side of the room. The albino boy smirked when he heard the demon cuss and scream, and let himself return to his body.

Sitting up, Soul was surprised to see Blair in the kitchen, the smell of burnt fish invading his senses. Wrinkling his nose, he stood up and began to head down the hall.

"Oh no you don't," Blair said as she picked Soul up by the collar of his shirt, surprising him with her strength. "Maka-chan is tired from all of the energy that she used healing, so you need to let her sleep."

"But-"

"No 'buts' mister," Blair said teasingly. "You can go see her, but don't wake her up no matter what you do." Soul nodded solemly and Blair put him down with a small purr. "Bu-chan thinks it's cute how much scythe boy is worried about Maka-chan!"

"It's not cute Blair," Soul mumbled, his face going red. He reached Maka's door and took a deep breath before pushing the door open. His face went even redder when he saw what Blair had changed Maka into. She was wearing (ANOTHER) one of Soul's button down shirts, partially unbuttoned to show off cleavage Maka hadn't had two years ago. The shorts she wore were short and her two long legs lay on the bed, distracting Soul. He was surprised to see two purple smoky bands wrapped around Maka's arms where he had left those two nasty brusies.

"Bu-chan's magic speeds up Maka-chan's natural healing, but it'll tire her out. It'll also get rid of her hangover!" Blair said happily, watching Soul with surprisingly perceptive amber eyes. "…I think."

Soul chuckled at this and went to sit on Maka's bed. He watched her peaceful expression, the smoke reaching out for him hesitantly. He let it lap over his hands and the smoke that wrapped around Maka briefly flared a brighter purple. He suddenly felt very tired and as he pulled his hands back, the smoke returned to its original dark hue. '_I guess her magic gets stronger the more people it has to draw energy from,' _he thought to himself.

Maka squirmed in her sleep and mumbled "Soul, stop the elephants from stealing my jellybeans." Soul had to laugh at this. A month after Maka had moved in with him to avoid her parent's constant bickering (before they got a divorce), Soul had discovered much to his devious pleasure that Maka constantly talked in her sleep. At first, Soul this knowledge as blackmail, but now that they were older sometimes he would sneak into Maka's room and just listen to her babble on and on about nonsense. It pleased him to no end to hear that he was in most of Maka's dreams.

"Don't worry Maka," he whispered in her ear. "I won't let those nasty elephants get your jellybeans." Maka smiled in her sleep and Soul chuckled.

"Thanks Soul," she mumbled. "You're so cool." Soul laughed, but his laughter died with a choking sound when Maka said "Maybe that's why I love you so much."

'_She's just dreaming she's just dreaming she's just dreaming she's just dreaming-' _Soul thought to himself, his heart beating fast. He watched as Maka slept peacefully on, mumbling something about giraffes before allowing himself a small smile.

"Love you too Maka," he said, briefly kissing her forehead before walking out of her room. He took a shower and brushed his teeth. Blair watched as he slipped into his room for the night and locked his door. Only then did he allow himself a large smile.

'_I love her.'_

**-0-**

**(1) – This is a Suite Life on Deck reference, but it was just so completely absurd that I just had to put it in. **

**(2) – Is "drunker" a word?**

**Wow, okay, sorry this took so long. But it's over 10.00 words, so none of you guys can get mad at me! Man, this chapter wrote it's self after the scene with Miles. My fingers just took over and vomited all over this chapter. I didn't mean for a lot of the stuff in this chapter to happen, but when it did, I really couldn't get too mad because it was just so freakin' **_**fantastic**_**. **

**There's not really any art today, but I do have a picture of Soul that I did, so yeah, you guys get that. Techno Skittles, I'll get your stuff done soon, don't worry!**

**http:/ silverbloodalchemist. deviantart. com/ gallery/ #/ d38oz23**

**On my profile page, you'll find something new I'm doing. I'm going to be putting up links to dances that I can see the cast of DTMOB doing on there, so go check that out. Soul and Maka are already up, and Kari and Marcus will be up next!**

**Random fact of the Week – Maka is an anagram for Kama (which means scythe). I really couldn't think of anything else, sorry.**

**REVIEWS!**

**I'm not going to do the reviews today, just for the sake of time and to get this chapter up, but I did read all of your reviews and I loved every single one! I'll reply to them each individually tonight. **


	6. Regarder le monde s'effondrer

**If I owned Soul Eater, do you **_**honestly**_** think I'd waste my time writing fanfics? Sorry, but no. No I would not.**

**-0-**

Maka woke up painfully slowly, her eyes fluttering open a full three minutes before the rest of her body decided to cooperate. Her brain felt fuzzy and she wondered blankly if she had a hangover (she had gotten drunk once before, but it was much worse than this). It felt like whatever hangover she was supposed to have had been dulled, only vaguely there. Maka groaned as the sounds of her apartment in the morning greeted her with obnoxious screams and a certain horny cat's maniacal laughing.

"-FOR THE LAST TIME, STOP TRYING TO BURN DOWN OUR HOUSE!" Soul screeched over his shoulder, surprising Maka as he came into the room. Blair's evil chuckle was the only response and the albino boy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Damn cat is going to drive me to madness before I'm twenty," he growled out softly. Looking up, he seemed to notice for the first time that Maka was somewhat awake now.

"Morning sleepy head," Soul said with false cheerfulness in his voice. Maka sat up slowly, her entire body sore from… something. Her brain was still foggy, and Soul noted this from the way her cloudy green eyes lazed around the room while she was wearing a confused expression.

"How… did I get here?" she managed to get out, her voice rough. Soul internally sighed in relief. '_If she doesn't remember the ride home, hopefully she won't remember the whole incident with the black blood last night,' _he thought, coming completely into the room and sitting on the bed next to a very confused Maka.

"Your friend, Kari I think, she called me last night from some dance club and asked me to come grab you and take you home." He was lying through his teeth, but frankly, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. There'd be hell later when she ran into her little friend Miles later and was informed of how the boy had managed to obtain his nasty broken nose (Kari had called him that morning and smugly informed him that Miles was in the hospital).

"Oh," Maka said, her eyebrow bunching together. With a loud sigh, her upper torso fell forward, the meister holding her head in her hands. "Ugh, I can't remember anything from last night!" she groaned, wavy ash blonde hair hiding her face from view. Soul patted her back, trying to keep his smile from getting too wide. He was frikken' tinkled pink about the fact that he wouldn't have to explain any of last night's event **.

And you knew he was happy if he used an uncool phrase like "tickled pink."

"Well, I'm sure nothing too important happened," Soul said, trying to keep from sounding too happy. Maka looked at him from between clumps of hair, but he just smirked lazily at her. "I'm still pissed at you though Maka," he said, his smirk dropping and being replaced with a frown. Maka brought her head up all the way and quirked an eyebrow.

'_What did I do to piss him of?' _she thought, her lips pursed. She still couldn't think straight, and it was bothering her to no end that she couldn't remember anything after Kari shoving that drink into her hand. "Soul, you're gonna have to explain to me what I did to make you mad, 'cause I can't remember jack _shit_." Under other circumstances, Soul would have laughed at her choice of words, but he was determined to get a serious explanation out of her.

"You lied to me about going to the library last night, and instead went to some dance club with a bunch of people I don't know. Do you know how freaked out I was when a girl I've only met _once_ calls me and says that I need to come pick you up because you're drunk out of your god damn mind?" Soul crossed his arms and watched as Maka squirmed under his intense red stare. He didn't care how uncool he sounded right now, she needed to know just how fucking worried he had been. Besides, it felt good to be on the other side of the lecture after coming home smashed.

"Oh, um, "Maka squirmed, twirling a piece of hair around her finger. She glanced at Soul and cringed at his unamused expression. "Well shit," she grumbled to herself, exhaling loudly. "I'm sorry Soul. It's just that, well, things have been so tense around here lately, and then Kari came up to me and invited me to go with a few of our friends, I just… I didn't think. I just wanted to forget everything for a while." Soul's eyes softened and he sighed.

"Yeah, I get it. Look, I don't mind, just tell me first, okay? You never know who shows up at those clubs." Maka nodded slowly, but stopped as a hazy memory from last night came back. Miles putting a glass in her hand, the bitter taste rolling down her throat, dancing like a _slut_ with him-

"Aw fuck," Maka groaned. Soul quirked an eyebrow as he watched his meister's expression shift from one of guilt to one of horror. "Hey Soul, when you got there, was there a guy with me? Dark brown hair, brown eyes, about the same height as you?" Soul nodded once and Maka groaned again. "Great, just GREAT! Ugh, please tell me he wasn't too close to me."

"Actually," Soul said in a matter of fact voice, "You were grinding against him." Maka's eyes shot up to meet his, and she went a very interesting shade of pale.

"Son of a-" she began to yell.

"But don't worry, I took care of him," Soul interrupted. Maka looked at her partner's smirk and her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Take care as in…"

"As in I kinda broke his nose." Maka stared at Soul for a good minute before throwing her head back and laughing. Soul began to laugh with her, and pretty soon the two teens were rolling on the bed together, tears running down their faces and their lungs burning.

"O-oh man! What was his expression like?" she managed to laugh out, her green eyes shining with mirth.

"_Priceless!" _Soul said with a large, devious smirk. "His nose made a nice, satisfying, crunching sound." After a few more minutes of laughing, the weapon and meister finally calmed down. Soul lied flat out on his back and Maka rolled onto her stomach, smiling widely at him. It felt great to be back on good terms with the Death Scythe after two weeks of dissonance, and she just wanted the moment to last forever.

"BREAKFAST!" Blair yelled happily from the kitchen. Maka looked towards her bedroom door and quirked an eyebrow.

"You let her cook?" she asked, looking back at Soul with a small frown. Her partner tilted his head back and shrugged.

"She offered, and besides, I only ever want to cook breakfast once a month." The green-eyed girl rolled her eyes and lightly flicked his nose. Soul smirked at her and flicked her right back, pulling a little on her ear lobe. He had missed this, the easy interaction with Maka. Pushing up from her bed, Soul got up and headed towards the door. "Come on, let's see how badly our kitchen is scorched."

"Actually," Maka said. "I'm gonna go ahead and change into something besides my pjs." Soul nodded and smirked again.

"Yeah, sure. By the way, why do you keep stealing my shirts?" Maka went an interesting shade of red at this comment and Soul's smirk only grew.

"I-I don't see why it's so wrong! You never use them , and besides, I used to steal my papa's shirts all the time!" Her fingertips curled around the cuffs of said shirt and she pulled her hands to her chest, pouting at Soul. Her expression went from one of defensiveness to one of confusion, running her tongue over her still swollen lips. "Ouch," she mumbled, oblivious to Soul's panicked stare. '_Oh crap, not good! Please don't let Maka realize why her lips are all bruised!' _Soul thought with a panicked gulp. He sighed in relief when Maka just shrugged and got up towards her closet.

"HELLOOOOO? DIDN'T ANYONE HEAR ME?" Blair yelled, clearly annoyed. "I SAID BREAKFAST!"

"WE'RE COMING!" Soul roared back, rolling his crimson eyes at Blair's antics. With one last smirk at Maka, the demon scythe left the room and headed into the kitchen, steeling himself for the worst. He was surprised to see three bowls of cereal on the table, Blair smiling widely in pride.

He tried not to laugh, he really did.

Maka came out two minutes later in a pair of baggy cargo pants and Soul's shirt, and she blinked at the odd sight in front of her. Soul was rolling on the floor clutching his ribs while he roared in laughter, Blair pouting behind him. Maka giggled and Blair immediately stopped pouting, smiling widely at the giggling blonde girl.

"Maka-chan! You're feeling all better now!' The cat woman pulled Maka into a hug and the meister winced uncomfortably at the discomfort in her upper arms.

"Um, yeah. I'm still feeling a bit hung over though," she said with a smile. Blair smiled back and put Maka down.

"Well no need to worry! Bu-chan made an awesome breakfast that is sure to get rid of your hang over!" Maka looked over at the table and her forest green eyes widened when she looked at the cereal bowls. Soul fell over in a new wave of laughter as he watched understanding flash across Maka's face.

"Wow Blair!' Maka said nervously, her smile wavering. "It looks great!" '_Well, I've got to give her credit for trying,' _Maka thought.

"Nyah! I'm glad someone understands and appreciates my hard work!" Blair said, pointedly glaring at Soul on the word "someone".

(AN- I now have a very hilarious mental image of Blair glaring at a cereal box while holding a bowl, saying "Get in the effin' bowl!")

"Yeah, whatever. I'm just glad that you didn't burn down our house," Soul scoffed, standing up and brushing away a few leftover tears of mirth from his eyes. The three roommates sat down digging into the cereal, Maka with renewed vigor.

"So Soul," Maka said in between bites. "Did I do anything else embarrassing last night?" Soul looked up at her with a small smirk.

"Not that I can remember," he said with a shrug, his smirk growing when Maka sighed in relief. "Actually, there is one thing."

Maka's face fell and she made a small whining noise in the back of her throat. "Oh man," she grumbled, making Soul laugh again.

"No, it wasn't necessarily bad," Soul reassured. "It's just that, well, I didn't know you could dance like that!"

Maka's spoon clattered into her bowl as she stared at Soul in shock, her jaw dropping. '_Oh god, I didn't… He didn't… No, it can't be! He didn't see me! He doesn't suspect anything! Just stay calm Maka!'_ she thought desperately, beginning to sweat. Soul didn't see her face and continued on, oblivious to Maka's horrified look and Blair's cutting throat motion.

"I mean really, it was pretty impressive. It was almost like you take classes or something." This time, Soul did look up as Maka stood abruptly, stumbling back in shock. "Maka, are you okay?" She took another step back, her eyes wide in horror.

He knew.

Oh god, _he knew._

"No," Maka gasped, clutching the sides of her head. Blair stood up and took a step forward.

"Maka-chan, are you okay?" Blair watched in concern as Maka's back hit the wall. Soul made to get up, but stopped when Maka started to shake her head.

"No no no no no no no," Maka gasped out, her breath came in small pants as she stared wide eyed at her partner. "You can't know, you can't. How did you… how did you…"

"Maka, please," Soul said, standing up slowly. "You're scaring me. What's wrong?"

"Do you hate me?" Soul blinked, straightening up and quirking his head to the side.

"What-"

"Do you hate me?" Maka whispered again, staring wide-eyed at the floor at her partner's feet.

"No, Maka, I could never-"

"DON'T LIE TO ME! STOP LYING TO ME DAMNIT!" The albino teen's eyes widened as his words from last night were thrown back at him. Maka began to mumble to herself, her green eyes wide and shining with unshed tears. Soul could barely hear her whispered protests, and what she was saying wasn't making sense anyways. He took a step towards his horrified meister, his soul giving off apologetic and reassuring waves towards her own.

She couldn't be around him when he was like this, when he was being so nice to her. He should be furious, why wasn't he mad at her? '_I have to get out of here!' _Maka thought, her breath coming in short gasps. Soul took another step forward, but she made a split second decision, turning and running for the door. "Hey!" Soul ran after her, surprised by her sudden actions. "MAKA WAIT!"

"Oh no," Blair gasped, chasing after both teens as they hit the streets of Death City. Maka flew from the apartment complex, beginning to cry as she tore down the streets faster than she had ever run before.

He had found out, Soul had found out. She didn't know how, but Soul had found out. Her secret was ruined and now, now what? '_I blew it.' _

Soul cussed as he watched Maka tear around the corner, going much too fast for him to catch up. He had never been an extremely fast runner, and damn it, Maka knew it and used that fact to her advantage. He ran into the garage, revving his motorcycle up as he chased after her on his bike. To his horror, Maka had disappeared when he went to get his bike, and no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find her.

Blair, on the other hand, was having much more luck keeping up with the two star meister. She had shifted back into a cat and chased after Maka, her small body making it easy to follow Maka as she wove through back alleyways and narrow side roads. They ran for nearly five minutes, twisting and turning through alleys all while heading towards the base of the large town. Maka's breath came in pants as she tore around the corner, heading into the two-story building that she knew better than her own home. Blair stopped for a moment as she looked up at the building in confusion.

"Now why would Maka-chan come here?" she muttered. Trotting into the building, Blair was surprised to find a sign inside the building.

_Madame Caillard's Dance Academy_

_Open Since 1985_

"So this is why Maka panicked," Blair gasped, her eyes wide. "Soul was right!" Blair's attention was caught by the sounds of sniveling coming from one the rooms. She quickly headed in that direction and was surprised to Maka on her knees in the mirror filled room, holding something to her chest like a life preserver.

"Oh Maka-chan," Blair said sorrowfully, nudging Maka's side with her head. Maka looked down at the magical cat with tear-filled eyes, her lower lip quivering as she clutched both her Pointe shoes and her Shibusen Meister card to her chest (AN- Accidently wrote house there lol).

"B-Blair, Wh-what am I g-gonna do?" Maka sobbed, shutting her eyes and trying to block out the world as it fell to pieces around her. "S-Soul hates me f-for lying to him! Our p-partnership, everything, I-I ruined it!" Blair quickly shifted into a woman and pulled the crying meister into a tight hug.

"Oh Maka-chan," Blair cooed. "Scythe boy doesn't hate you! He really cares about you!" This only made Maka cry harder and Blair panicked. "Oh shit!" she gasped.

"B-Blair! You're n-not helping!" Maka cried, burying her face in Blair's shoulder. "Oh god, I-I ruined everything!" The magical cat let her cry for a few minutes before brushing away a few stray tears and looking at her with soft amber eyes.

"Maka-chan, do you need to talk about this? I'm here for you, and you know you can tell me anything." Maka looked up at Blair with wide green-eyes. She had never felt particularly close to the cat woman, but now she realized that Blair was really speaking the truth. She had helped Maka and Soul out on multiple occasions, treating them like the younger siblings she had never had (Blair was the youngest in her old litter). Maka swallowed down her tears and quickly returned Blair's hug, nodding once.

It took Maka over thirty minutes to explain the whole story to Blair. To her credit, Blair didn't interrupt the blonde meister once, instead just nodding and wiping away a few tears that had managed to leak out.

"Maka-chan, why didn't you tell Bu-chan all of this before?" Blair asked when Maka was done, the cat's amber eyes full of sympathy and understanding, rubbing soothing circles into her back. Maka wondered briefly if this was how she treated her clientele, but decided probably not.

"I was so scared, I-I didn't want anyone to know. And now, Soul," Maka hiccupped, tears beginning to flow again. "And now Soul hates-"

"Maka-chan! Don't you say another word!" The blonde meister looked up at Blair in shock. "Soul-kun could never hate you! Last night when he brought you home, he was so worried about you! He loves you!" Blair seemed to realize exactly what she had said and covered her mouth in shock. '_Oh crap! I said way too much!'_ Both girls stared at each other for a few seconds before Maka pushed Blair off of her, her forest green eyes hard.

"How low can you sink?" she hissed. "First Soul and now you? Why is everyone lying to me!"

"Oh no, Maka- chan! I'm not lying!" Blair said, her voice breaking in desperation. This was taking a turn for the worst , and fast. "Please, Maka, listen to me-"

"Soul, love me? Ha." Blair was shocked into silence by the pure heartbreak and coldness in her voice. "Why would he love me? I'm just… I'm just…" Maka closed her eyes and turned her head away from Blair, her soul crying. "I'M JUST A GOOD FOR NOTHING LIAR WHO DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE HIS PARTNER!" she screamed, her fingers breaking the skin of her palm and blood dripping to the floor. The two girls stared at each other, both crying before the door opened.

"Hey now, what's going on in-" A woman stood in the doorway, her warm chocolate eyes surveying the scene in front of her. The woman was slightly taller than Maka, with light brown hair that brushed her shoulders. "Maka? What's going on?" she said, concern making her normally loud voice soft.

"Miss Michelle!" Maka gasped, quickly wiping any remaining tears from her eyes. Michelle was their newest teacher, having taken over for Mr. Ray (their old contemporary teacher) when he had gone missing a month ago. Maka really liked Michelle, she was nice and her choreography was challenging, but when she opened the door, the blonde meister only sank further back into the room.

"Yo Michelle! What's the hold-" Kari stopped mid-step, her eyes landing on Maka and then Blair. When she noticed the blood dripping from between Maka's fingers, the older girl immediately went into protective mama bear mode, her steely blue eyes seeming to freeze over as she strode over to the shivering cat woman. "Listen to me you," Kari hissed, her voice low and laced with malice "If you even left so much as a scratch on my best friend-"

"Soul found out." Kari froze as Maka's words echoed through the empty studio. Her head whipped around as she tried to find Maka in the shadows. "I blew it and now… and now…" Maka couldn't talk anymore, the lump in her throat made it hard to even breath, let alone speak. Kari frowned, her eyes softening as Maka stepped forward, clutching her hand to her chest. The older girl quickly wrapped Maka up in a protective embrace, letting the meister sob into her chocolate tresses.

"Shhh, shhh, it's okay Maka. It's gonna be okay," she whispered, her voice soft and comforting.  
Maka just sobbed even harder and Kari shot a "Help Me" look to Blair. The magical cat shook her head, mouthing "She's mad at me." Kari rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Okay, Maka, hon? Let's head upstairs and you can tell me everything," the tall girl said soothingly, lightly grabbing Maka's shoulders and steering her towards the back hallway. At the end of the hallway, Kari pushed open the door and lead Maka upstairs to the large flat that occupied the second floor.

"Kari, what is going on here?" Both girls looked up to see Madame Caillard sitting in the kitchen, her gray blonde hair let loose around her shoulders.

"Isn't _that _the question of the day?" Kari muttered. After setting Maka down at the table with the older woman (AN- Her official age is 43), Kari walked down the hall to the last room on the right. Peeking her head in, Kari's entire face lit up in a smile. "Mom, you're up!" she exclaimed, her gray-blue eyes wide.

"Hey honey." Kari's mother was frail, chocolate brown tresses spread out across the pillow in waves. Various tubes and drips were plugged into her blue and green veins and blood dripped steadily into her shaky body. Her green eyes sparkled though, not affected by the accident that had shaken the rest of her frail body to the core. "How's my baby girl?" she asked, her voice soft and sweet. "Not getting into too much trouble I hope."

"Mooom," Kari whined, smiling widely. "I'm fine. How have you been? You were asleep for a while." Kari's mom, Samantha, frowned, eyebrows pulling down over her viridian eyes.

"What day is it?" she asked, her voice twisted with confusion. Ever since the car accident that had taken her husband and broken her spine Samantha had been in and out of consciousness, sometimes sleeping for only minutes and sometimes for months. It was a hard fought battle to keep sane when she hardly knew what day it was, and even harder when she watched months of her children's lives disappear when to her it only felt like a moment.

"April 23rd," Kari said with a sad smile. "You were out of it for about two weeks."Her mother cursed under her breath and Kari's smile flattered. It was rare to see the soft-spoken woman cuss, and she knew it was only frustrating her mom that the current treatments weren't working. "Don't worry mom, the doctor said that it might take a while for the new treatment to kick in, so just be patient." Samantha looked up at her daughter, her green eyes shining with unshed tears. She saw so much of her husband in Kari, from her tall frame to her steely blue eyes, and it gave her strength. She smiled softly, lifting a frail, shaking, hand to cup Kari's cheek. Kari smiled into the embrace, holding her mother's hand up with her own hand.

"You're so strong for me Kari," she breathed, smiling warmly. "I don't know where you get your cheery outlook from, but remind me to thank them."

"Well Maka's right out there," Kari said with a smirk, jerking her thumb towards the door. "But she's not all that cheery right now. She's kinda fighting with her weapon partner right now, and she's really upset." Samantha nodded sympathetically. Terrence, her late husband, had been a meister (thus why they had lived so close to Death City at the time of Kari's birth) and Samantha remembered all too well how he would get whenever he and his weapon would fight.

"Well, you tell Maka that I'm here if she ever needs to talk. There's nothing more comforting than talking to your best friend's comatose mother." Both Bovim women laughed, and with a final kiss on her mother's forehead, Kari headed back into the kitchen where she was met by the sight of her aunt and Maka both sitting in comfortable silence, sipping on tea. Maka would still sniffle occasionally, but Madame Caillard would just reach over and rub her back comfortingly.

"Mom's up," Kari said, grabbing herself a mug and filling it with coffee before joining the two blondes at the table. Maka nodded once and Madame Caillard's face lit up, making her look years younger.

"I'll go check up on her real quick, you two enjoy your tea-"

"Coffee~!" Kari sang , wiggling her mug as she rested her chin on the top of Maka's head.

"Beverages," Madame Caillard said with a small smirk, "And I'll be right back". She turned in a swirl of skirts and disappeared into Samantha's room within seconds. Kari smiled down at Maka, but frowned when she saw that Maka was just staring into her tea, her moss green eyes glassy.

"Let's head into my room, 'kay?" Kari asked with a smile, tilting her head to the side. Maka looked up at her and just stared for a few moments before nodding once. She stood slowly, her feet shuffling down the hall. Both girls came to a halt when Maka's phone went off, startling both with the sounds of heavy guitar riffs and a girl singing in Japanese. Maka pulled her phone out quickly, fumbling with it for a moment before pulling it to her ear.

"Hello?" Maka said softly, her expression wary.

"Maka? Maka where are y-" Maka threw her phone across the room, dropping to her knees and holding her head in her hands, tears rolling again. Kari hissed and strode over to the phone picking it up and pulling it her ear.

"-was that sound? Maka please, I'm worried shitless!"

"Who the hell is this and what the HELL did you say to Maka!" Kari hissed, her steely blue eyes hard.

"What the- Kari? What the hell are you doing with Maka's phone? Is she with you? Is she okay?" Kari sighed, finally recognizing the voice as that of Maka's worried weapon.

"Give me a sec to take care of Maka," she whispered, trying to keep the crying girl from hearing her conversation, "and then I'll call you back."

"Is Maka okay?" Kari stopped short. Soul sounded like a kicked puppy, and her heart went out to the albino Death Scythe.

"She's in good hands," she said quietly.

"That doesn't answer my-" The phone shut with a quiet click, Kari staring at the phone with sad eyes for a few extra moments. After pocketing the phone, she walked back over to Maka and led her over to her room, holding the crying girl as they watched the meister's world come apart at the seams.

**-0-**

Soul stared at the phone in his shaking hand as if it had bitten him. With a yell, he threw it against the wall, running his hands through his hair. He ran over the morning again in his head, trying to figure out where it went wrong.

Where it all went horribly, _horribly, _wrong.

His head whipped around at the sound of someone opening the door, but he deflated when he was met with the concerned cobalt eyes of Tsubaki.

"Is she back? BlackStar told me you called and asked if Maka-chan had come to our house, and I was worried. Soul-kun, what's going on?"

"I don't know," Soul growled shaking his head as he began to once again pace the room. Tsubaki's frown deepened as she watched his frustrated expression. The Dark Arm weapon was scared for Maka, her paternal instincts kicking in full force. Maka was her best friend, and she felt very protective of the younger girl (although she knew full well that Maka could take care of herself). She placed a warm hand on Soul's shoulder, stopping him from pacing. Her touch only slightly comforted him, not doing as well to calm him down as he knew Maka's hugs did. His blood was burning, pumping hot and furious through his veins and he struggled to calm down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly, looking up into the Death Scythe's red eyes (He had grown taller than her as well). Soul opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the sound of Madonna shrieking about how she felt Like A Virgin. Tsubaki quirked an eyebrow as Soul went to collect his phone.

"BlackStar's idea of a joke." He said, shrugging. "Haven't gotten around to changing it back yet." Tsubaki shook her head, smiling softly at the mention of her meister. Soul snapped open the phone and growled into the device. "Why the HELL did you hang up on me?" he barked, his sharp teeth flashing.

"Sorry." Tsubaki could just barely hear the girl say, her voice rough and distorted over the phone line. "But I had to take care of Maka."

"Who is it?" Tsubaki whispered, her hands clutching her skirt at the mention of the blonde meister.

"One of Maka's friends," Soul whispered back, covering the mouthpiece with one of his large hands. "Apparently Maka's over there." The raven haired weapon sighed in relief, and she heard the girl say "Put me on speaker."

Soul quickly complied and Maka's friend's voice filled the small apartment. "Nice to meet 'ya mystery girl. I'm Kari, and I've known Maka for a while."

"Is Maka-chan okay?" she asked, worried for her friend.

"She's fine physically, except for a few marks on her palm, but she's a complete and utter mess right now. Soul, what do you know?" Soul blinked at the question.

"If I knew anything do you think I would be talking to you right now?" he growled. He heard Kari cuss softly on the other end of the line.

"Gah, I so don't even want to do this," the girl groaned. "Say, mystery girl-"

"Tsubaki," the Dark Arm said, her voice sweet even when she was so worried.

"Tsubaki, right. How close are you to Maka?"

"We're best friends. She tells me everything," Tsubaki said immediately, feeling like she had to protect her title against the faceless voice. Something about the way Kari talked about Maka made Tsubaki think that the girls were closer than Soul and her thought.

"Well, not exactly everything. Do you know where she comes most days after school?" Tsubaki opened her mouth, but was interrupted when Kari said "And first person to guess library gets kicked off the island." The older girl frowned. That had been the answer she was going to give. _'That's what Maka had always told us,'_ she thought.

"She mentioned that last night," Soul said, his bangs falling over eyes and hiding his face from Tsubaki's view. "She said that she didn't go to the library while she was drunk, but that would mean that… that she had been lying to me." Tsubaki shot him a questioning look that he ignored.

"And trust me Soul, it killed her inside. She cares about you, about all of you," she said, and Tsubaki felt like that last comment was aimed at her. "I've heard all about you Tsubaki, Maka talks about you all the time." Well, that confirmed Tsubaki's suspicions. "But keep in mind that I've been Maka's friend since she was what, five? She's practically my little sister."

"You don't look older than Maka," Soul said, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm seventeen, my birthday's a few months before Maka and Channing's." Tsubaki imagined the girl waving her hand as if it was unimportant. "You guys and I know two different Maka's. Similar, very VERY similar, but different Maka's. The Maka I know dances."

Both teens froze at this. '_I didn't know Maka-chan dances…' _Tsubaki thought.

"She takes classes at my aunt's place. That's where she disappears to and how I see her every week. She's phenomenal, one of the best and most diverse dancers I've ever seen, but she was afraid when she started at Shibusen that people would think that she was weak if they knew that she ran around in Pointe shoes for fun. Which, by the way, I think is ridiculous because I've never fought a kishin before and I could probably kick the ass of half of the people at that school. But from what I've heard, it's already difficult for her since mainly boys are meisters and she gets a lot of crap for having ovaries." The situation wasn't funny in the slightest, but Kari's wording of the last statement made Tsubaki giggle. She looked up and her giggles died a cold, unforgiving death at the sight of Soul's pained face. '_She kept that big of a part of her life from me?' _he thought, his soul whimpering in pain.

"I know it hurts to hear this Soul," Kari said, concern lacing through her voice. "But it's better that you hear it from me now instead of trying to figure it out on your own. Maka's gonna give me hell for telling you, but she already thinks that you know, so it doesn't really matter." Soul remembered his innocent comment at the breakfast table and Maka's resulting panic and cussed.

"That's why she freaked out! God damn i-"

"Another thing," Kari interrupted. "That group of kids at the club last night? They're the other dancers in our classes. We've been a group ever since we were little. Marcus, Channing, Maka, and I were practically inseparable before she went to Shibusen."

"Marcus, he's that really tall black guy right?" Soul asked, remembering the kind boy from the night before.

"Yup, that's him. He and Maka dance together all the time, and he's pretty much the older brother she never had."

"How did BlackStar not know about this?" Tsubaki suddenly chirped up, her cobalt eyes sparking with curiosity. "He's known Maka since he was born."

"BlackStar, BlackStar…" Kari said, clearly trying to remember the boy. "Describe him to me. I'm awful with names, but I never forget a face."

"Blue hair, short, really loud, always bitching about how he's gonna surpass God?" Soul said, rolling his eyes at the last bit.

"Oh god, _HIM_?" Kari said, sounding horrified and disgusted all at the same time. "Oh man, I hated that kid! I wanted to push him off the monkey bars whenever Maka would drag him along to play with us." Soul snorted at her response, and laughed full out when he saw Tsubaki's face.

"Kari, you just insulted a Dark Arm's meister," he said with a smirk. "Thank god that she doesn't know where you lives."

"Sorry Tsubaki. The feeling's mutual if that makes it any better. He broke my arm once."

"What happened?" Tsubaki said, already prepared to apologize for her meister's actions.

"I broke both of his legs."

Both Soul and Tsubaki stared at each other for three seconds before falling to the floor, clutching their stomachs while they laughed. Soul didn't think he would be able to laugh, considering the whole thing with Maka, but the mental image of a little Kari snapping BlackStar's legs was just too much.

"That's p-probably why he's so d-damn short!" Soul managed to laugh out, and both weapons stopped for a second before rolling over in a new wave of laughter. (AN- And thus, I have solved one of Soul Eater's greatest mysteries)

"Serves the little brat right," Kari said, and though they couldn't see her, they could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Are you the reason why his hair is blue too?" Soul said, wiping his eyes free of any leftover tears of mirth.

"No, but I was there when it happened. We were, what, 6? He was trying to get himself noticed, and so he thought that dying his hair a weird color would do the trick. Maka and Channing helped him, and it wasn't until after they were done that they noticed the giant, red, PERMENANT on the box. Marcus and I could _not_ stop laughing." Suddenly, they heard the door open and close, followed with a small, sweet voice.

"Kari-chan, I got your text. Is Maka-chan okay?" Soul sobered up instantly.

"Yeah Channing, she's in my room. Go take care of her, nya?" Channing replied with a quick "Hai," and disappeared from the conversation.

"If anyone should be there it's me," Soul said, standing suddenly. "Tell me where you are and I'll be there in five-"

"No." Soul stopped suddenly, turning towards the phone that sat on the coffee table. "Soul, Maka broke down when she heard your _voice, _how do you think she'll react when you randomly show up at my house?"

"Well what do you _think_ I should do?" Soul barked, his eyes narrowed. Kari stayed silent for a few seconds, thinking while Tsubaki stood as well.

"I think you should let me take care of Maka for a few days. Let her calm down, get her to understand that this isn't as big as a deal as she thinks it is. Maybe Tsubaki and some of the other Shibusen kids could come by and help, but not you Soul. Seeing you will make her panic. Let her stay here for a few nights to calm down, and then let her come to you when she is ready. I give her three to four days at most." Soul growled and Tsubaki jumped at the rough, grating sound.

"No fucking way," he barked, his crimson eyes flashing. "No _fucking_ way am I letting _my_ meister wallow in self pity for three days. I can snap her out of it, if you just give me a chance-"

"_Soul." _The albino boy stopped at her commanding voice. "Listen to me. You've never seen Maka like this, trust me. _I have. _I will take care of Maka, you don't have to worry about that, and we can get her out of this slump, but _you have to give us time. _This isn't something you can 'snap her out off'. She has to work it off on her own, and we can speed it along." Soul looked torn. "She can sleep over here, and it's a weekend, so she won't miss too much school. I'll keep you updated, so we'll stay in touch and you won't have to worry about a thing. I'll send Channing over to grab some clothes for Maka."

Soul cussed, running his fingers through his spiky white hair repeatedly. He didn't want to spend any more time away from Maka, not after two weeks of awkward silences and silent stares. "I just got her back," he muttered sadly. Tsubaki frowned and rubbed his back comfortingly. After a few minutes of internally struggling with himself, Soul turned back to the phone with a frown.

"Fine, do what you want. But please, just let me talk to her. I…" he fumbled for the words, his face burning red. "I care about her… a lot (Tsubaki smiled widely at this)… and she… she needs to know that I'm not mad at her, just… confused, and hurt." He couldn't see Kari smile or nod, but he heard her soft "Mhm," just fine.

"I'll try. Don't say anything too shocking though, I know Blair said something and Maka freaked." Soul quirked an eyebrow at the mention of his feline roommate, but ignored it when he heard the sounds of Kari getting up and moving around. He quickly turned off the speaker phone and pulled the cell to his ear, shooting Tsubaki a look that said "Give me a minute will ya'?" She nodded and headed into Maka's room to prepare her bag while Soul listened to the muffled sounds of Kari talking to who he assumed to be Maka. After a minute, he heard someone sniffling into the phone and he stood up a little straighter. He knew that Maka wouldn't say anything and, praying to God that he wouldn't screw this up, he began to talk in a low, smooth voice.

"Maka, I know you're there. Listen, I'm not mad at you, remember that. I'm just really confused, and admittedly a little hurt. So you dance, so what? That doesn't change you. It doesn't change the fact that you're a fantastic meister or," Soul swallowed, but plowed on bravely. "The best partner any weapon could ask for. Frankly, it's kinda cool that you're so versatile. And Maka, please, don't ever think that you ever have to keep anything from me. I have my share of secrets, but I know I can trust you with anything, and I do so on a daily basis." He stopped, clutching the phone closer to his face. He had never talked this much at once in his entire life, and it felt weird having a heart-to-heart over the phone. "I… I miss you Maka, I really do. Take your time, calm down, do what you need to do, but please. Come home, because I-" '_Love you,' _he finished in his mind, his face flushing. Maka sniffled on the other line, and he knew, just knew, that she had listened and understood.

"…Thank you." Soul lit up at the sound of his miester's voice and he pressed his ear closer to the phone, praying that she'd say something else, anything else. He just needed to hear her voice, because it meant that everything would be alright. But the line went dead, and he deflated. A few minutes later Blair came home, visibly depressed, and a few minutes after that, Maka's friend Channing came over to pick up Maka's stuff.

But Soul didn't see her, for he had locked himself in his room, his headphones pulled down over his ears and music blaring loudly (trying to block the sounds of the demon mocking the lashes in his heart). He fell asleep a few minutes later, classical music lulling him to sleep as Maka danced across the inside of his eyelids, stupefying him with a brilliant smile and twin emeralds glowing in the dark.

**-0-**

**Oh god I'm a bitch.**

**I'M SORRY SOUL AND MAKA! (And any of the readers who want to kill me at the moment)**

**Well, I hope this chapter answered may of your "How is Soul going to react" questions. I'm sorry this chapter came so late, but I just didn't have any motivation to write, and my writing is CRAP when I force myself to vomit crap onto the document. The next chapter will be about the same length hopefully, and not too much will happen. Except for one thing.**

**Chrona shows up in the next chapter.**

**Now here is where shit gets controversial. I know that many people have their own opinions on Chrona's gender, and I myself tend to lean more towards the feminine aspect, but I decide Chrona's gender by **_**what is best for the story. **_**For example, in my other SE fic "Airship Grigori" *coughshamelessplugcough*, I have two separate Chrona plotline's to pick from, one in which he is a male, and one in which he is female (I'm using 'he' instead of 'it', just 'cause I love Chrona too much to use 'It'). I can see him either way, and I'm fine with other people's opinions, but please, do not send me a review saying "Oh, well I think Chrona's a boy" or "Wth? Chrona is clearly a hermaphrodite! (which is one of my other theories because really, Medusa would do that)". I **_**will **_**ignore your comment, and I **_**will not **_**give a fuck. I just do what I think is best for the story. Also-**

**Do.**

**Not.**

**Mock.**

**Ragnarok.**

**I am making him human in this fic, because this is in fact an anime based AU (I finally decided) and in my mind, after the whole epic battle with Medusa Shinigami-sama saves Ragnarok and gives him a human body. This is just a result of my imagination run wild, so please, just deal with my crazy ass wonderings.**

**Finally (this is the last I'm saying about Chrona, I swear), I will be shipping Fem!ChronaxHuman!Ragnarok in this fic and any following fics that take place in the DTMOB 'verse (That's the next big topic of discussion). It's cute, there won't be a whole lot, and frankly, it's one of the few Chrona pairings I can stand. I read a ChronaxMaka fic once and was almost physically sick (ChronaxKidd I do not mind, I actually like that couple, though I tend to ship Kidd with Patti). I can't see that couple, and that's mainly due to the fact that I hardcore ship Soul and Maka. One of the first ever SE fanfics I read was the fic "Winter Waltz", many of you know it, and that fic **_**heavily**_** influenced my look on Soul Eater couples. **

**Next order of business! I will be concluding this fic in about 4 to 5 chapters *holds back a sob* but not to fear! You will still be able to get your fix of dance-y goodness! I will be following this fic up with a series of one-shots titled "Shibusen Two Step", which will mainly focus on SoMa, Kari and Channing, and a SPECIAL SURPRISE. My next main priority after DTMOB will be AG:ToCaC, but I love these characters too much to let them end with just 10 or so chapters to call their own. I'm not planning on any specific number of one-shots, and I'm open to any suggestions, so please, send me a PM with your ideas! I know you have 'em folks, and I want to hear them! Please no ideas that include shipping any of my OCs with canon characters though(I already ship KarixMarcus and ChanningxSugar lol). **

**Hmmm. I'm trying to think of anything else I have to say. Oh, thank you to all of my reviewers! I know I didn't reply to any of last chapter's reviews and I'm really sorry for that, I just didn't have any time! Trust me though, I read every single one and I keep all of the review alerts on my gmail. I read them when I'm upset or angry, and they make me want to keep writing. This story has gotten nearly 70 reviews, and you don't know how much that means to me. I have serious self-esteem issues (Not EVEN gonna go into that) and all of your support and love is showing me that I can do this whole writing thing, and do it well. I can't thank you enough for that.**

**I'd also like to thank all of the people who have faved or watched either me or any of the stories I've written. Even if you don't leave a review, it makes me so happy to know that so many people love my crazy-ass ideas and actually want to read them. Reviewers have a special place in my heart, but so do you guys, and I love each and every one of you for taking the time to read what my fingers manage to produce.**

**Sadly, there is no art for this chapter, but feel free to go to my ffnet page and follow the link to my deviantART. Be warned, there is a MAJOR spoiler lurking in my gallery. If you don't mind be spoiled by all means go check it out (I'm prouder of my art than of my writing admittedly), but don't say I didn't warn ya. There have been some hints towards the twist, and it's probably so overdone, but I've had this twist planned out for months. I'd also like to apologize for the confusion with last week's author's note. I wrote there that Techno-Skittles won the contest when in fact it was TwinKi-GiRL99 who won. It was just last week when the confusion was made, and I apologize to anyone I may have confused. I'm getting on your contest piece, and it should be up-**

…

**It'll be up (I really have no clue when. I turned it into this huge project and now it's gonna be a comic and probably make my brain explode). **

**REVIEWS!**

**Lilith Shiro – Lol, yeah, drunk Maka made me giggle. At first I considered making her more of a flirty, seductive drunk, but I decided not to. Yeah, I meant you! I hope I got it right, and I'm sorry for not putting you there in the disclaimer, but frankly, it was 8 in the morning and my brain so wasn't working. Thank you so much! I didn't plan on putting the black blood in here, but then the imp started trashing my room in an angry fit, so I ended up putting it in there. Don't worry, I don't like Miles either. He's just a character for Soul to beat up honestly XDDD. Hope I update soon too!**

**Shenzuul- And how! Lol, thus. That word makes me giggle. Thank you so much! I'm still working out the kinks in my writing style (if it can even be called that), so I'm glad to know it's coming along. Yeah, Soul is fun to write, even in his rage mode, and though at first I didn't like it, I really love the whole scene towards the end. It gave Blair a chance to shine. I'm glad you liked the black blood. I'm a big person for following the canon (for example, I hold firm to the fact that Spirit and Kami's divorce happened right before the anime started, not years before), but there isn't a lot about the black blood so you kinda gotta make it up as you go.**

**Emcronia- Thank you so much! I hope that the reveal was good enough for you. It was supposed to come later in the story, but like I've said before this story writes itself, I just kinda go along for the ride. I'm so glad everyone liked the black blood (I've gotten a lot of comments on it). Hope you liked this chapter as much as the last one!**

**Soharu87- *nervous laugh* I know, I know, but it's totally canon. Along with Death Robbins. They're takin' over the world bitch, even in Death City! Hm, I wonder if they're called that in other parts of the world or just Death City (is WalMart DeathMart? *giggles at the mental image*)**

**MusicSoundsMySoul 14- Thank you so much! It really makes me happy that everyone loves this story so much, and even more so when they decide to leave awesome reviews like this! Thank you for the writing comment as well. I like to think that I have a pretty firm grasp of the English language, though I know my chapters that I put up are anything but perfect (I somehow manage to skip entire words and not notice them as I reread the chapters). It takes some practice, but after awhile you get the hang of it and manage to develop your own style *meaningful stare and cough* You know what I mean. BTW, thanks for rewriting the first chapter of your story. It means a lot to me that you respect me enough as a writer to redo it. I loved it, and if you ever need any help coming up with ides or something, feel free to PM me.**

**Formally known as danni55- OH MAH GOD! SQUEEEEEEEE! I'M GLAD YOU LIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! !**

**MarkOfTheRaven- I pretty much already replied to all of your comments, so let me just say thank you so much! It really warms my heart that you took the time to review each chapter, and to leave reviews that made me think as well! I promise to work out some of those kinks you mentioned (the pointe shoe thing will be resolved eventually) and I'll take many of your comments into consideration as I write. Thank you so much again!**

**Aquatwin- I know! I didn't want to do it but the imp made me! WE SHOULD FORM AN ANGRY MOB OF TWO! Lol! We were close, but now that it happened what do you think? There is another recital coming up (I'm debating whether or not to make it at Shibusen)! How did you guess! Are you reading my mind? QUICK! WHAT AM I THINKING! **

…

**You're right! I think!**

**Lol, I have such a twisted sense of humor, and Kari is proof of that. She and I have similar personalities, though she is SO much cooler than I am (I actually made a cameo in chapter 5. Can you figure out which one is me?) I'm glad you like her enough to consider her your favorite and don't worry, there's more of her to come! She was even more kick-ass in this chapter. "I broke both of his legs." God I laughed so hard at that when that line popped up on my computer screen. I'm adding "Goddess of inflictin' emotions" to my resume, dead serious lol. Thank you so much and I hope that chapter meets your standards!**

**Techno Skittles- Lol, FEAR THE MAGESTIC PENGUIN! I have a doodle somewhere of Soul just holding this penguin toy with a smirk and Maka freakin' out lol. Yeah, the Code Red song was "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence and The Machine. I totally forgot to mention that last chapter, but I did think of it. It was actually Channing's idea, which shocked everyone (they didn't know she could be so devious!). Yeah, I totally stole that fact offa the Soul Eater Wiki. Nerd that I am, I've pretty much read the ENTIRE THING, and pride myself on knowing random crap like that. Maybe it could be like "She's so down to earth" or something like that *shrugs*. I don't really know, I'm just spitting out bullshit.**

**LoveTheCrazy (I love the crazy too)- Thank you so much! Yeah, nobody likes the imp. Honestly, I find him hilarious in the anime, but we've got to remember that he's a soul-sucking son of a bitch. He can't die, or Soul dies. Otherwise he'd be dead. I would've killed him. I remember when I first started watching the series I started at season two, so I didn't know the whole story. I pretty much figured it out, but for the longest time I thought the imp had always been there, and that Soul just had a mild case of schizophrenia. But I was wrong (Of course). **

**-Aneera- - SOMA FLUFF FTW! … I don't really have anything to say to you since we talk ALL THE TIME, so yeah. Neener.**

**Aku12- NOOO! PATTI'S ARMY OF GIRAFFES WILL PROTECT THE MAGICAL JELLYBEANS OF MAKALAND! Aaaand now you know what Maka's dream was about lol. Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!**

**ubyrai- XD! I'm glad you liked it! Honestly, that's one of my favorites too, but I think that the next to last (not including the epilogue) is going to be my favorite. It is going to be long as FUCK though. GAH! PLEASE DON'T DIE! *runs and grabs DTMOB doodles* Here! Use these to tide you over while you wait!**

**cheng- Teeheeheeheehee! I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT! I was aiming for cute and hilarious (plus a little angst) so I guess I succeeded! YAY! PARTY TIME! *dances like an idiot around the room* Okay I'm done. I'll try to update again soon, but I make no promises.**

**Maka67- Really? I never would have thought.**

…

**Oh god that sounded really bitchy. I'm sorry, I'm not being a bitch ("Yes you are" Shut up Ed this isn't even your fandom), I'm just trying to be funny. My sense of humor is weird like that. Thank you so much for taking the time to review, and sorry for sounding mean. I'm a bitch, but I'm really sweet once you get to know me, promise.**

**Jezzimare- *shrugs* Eh, so I made up a word. Sue me lol. I'm glad you love this story! It's reviews like this that make me want to keep writing, and I really can't thank you enough. I can't promise that my updates will be fast, but there will be updates.**

**neko-chann191 (there were 190 neko-chans before this one lol) – HEYYYYY! WASSUP! Glad you like it! See you after spring beak chika! **

**Mysoulyoursoul- Woah, evil laughter. I'm trying my hardest to update, but I like to only post the best chapters I can, so they may take awhile (this one took over a month!), but don't worry, I'll keep this story going strong until the very end! Which is honestly much closer than I like.**

**HalfbloodHobbit- Oh man. May I just say that your review made my day? I was having a crap week when I got your review and honest to god your review made me smile for HOURS. Thank you sosososososo much! I've definitely done that a few times (Up is Down by Captin Lupin Whatsherface is one I've read all the way through three times. And there's about 60 long chapters). It does help me picture your love for this story, and it's a beautiful, wonderful picture! Thank you so much! Oh god, please don't pass out! I'll try to get more updates out soon, promise! *joins in as you run around in circles* WEEEEEEEE!**

**(BTW, it was nice to see you on DA as well! Sorry if I spoiled you horribly)**

**Well, I guess that's it! I'm going to resubmit last chapter with all of the reviews eventually, so look out for that. **

**For those of you who have lasted this long through this hideous excuse for an Author's note, congratulations. You just won yourself a *whips out a Kidd doll* A SHINIGAMI! Complete with OCD, Sanzu lines, and Velcro pants (XDDDD)! To collect your SHINIGAMI, press the button below!**

**V**

**V**

**V**

**V**


	7. Récupération

**I thought I owned Soul Eater, but then they told me I'd have to give up my Edward hallucinations in order to keep it.**

**Sorry guys, Elric won out.**

**-0-**

**Récupération**

**« Recovery »**

**-0-**

_Samedi_

**-0-**

The sun rose on the sleeping Death City, yawning loudly as it crawled up the sky. The sunlight beamed through the open window of a flat on top of a dance studio as it rose, and the girls inside squirmed under the hot spring sun. Three girls were sprawled out on Kari's bed, their limbs tangled together as they slept peacefully. Channing was the first to wake up, trying to stretch before realizing that she couldn't, seeing as Kari had her arm pinned under her torso. She sweatdropped as her oldest friend snored like a bulldozer, her mouth open wide and chocolate hair wild on the pillow. Channing looked over to her other side to see if her other friend was still asleep, but was surprised to see that she wasn't.

'_That's weird, I'm usually the first one up,' _she thought innocently, quirking her head to the side. Maka's eyes were glazed over as she stared at her hand, which was raised over her head straight up in the air. It took Channing a minute or two to realize that Maka wasn't staring at her hand, but rather at the golden bracelet that decorated her wrist (she just woke up, give her credit for even noticing it was a bracelet). The gold glinted in the early morning sunlight, and Channing quietly took inventory of all the charms that hung from the delicate chains. A skull, an "M" with a curlicue at the end, a small emerald and ruby (hung on the same link), a scythe and an "S".

"That's really pretty," the tiny blonde said quietly, shaking Maka from her thoughts. Glancing at the girl, Maka smiled wistfully and brought her hand closer to her chest, watching as the light reflected off the bracelet.

"Yeah. Soul got it for me last Christmas," she said quietly. Channing watched her friend and saw Maka's moss green eyes glint with something. It was a soft look, filled with emotion as she cradled her wrist close to her chest (to her heart).

"You really love Soul-kun, don't you?" Maka shot straight up, staring wide-eyed at her friend's innocent blue eyes.

"L-love? W-what would make you say that?" she stammered, her face red. Channing smiled widely. It wasn't often that she got to explain something to Maka (usually it was the other way around) and she considered taking a second to just bask in the moment.

"Well," Channing grunted as she pulled her arm out from the still sleeping Kari, hissing as the blood rushed back into her arm in a rush (Kari wrapped her arms around the blonde's leg with a grumble). "You're always talking about him, you trust him a whole lot, and you always get this weird look in your eyes whenever you talk about him. Kinda like how Kari-chan looks when she talks about Marcus-kun." Maka went an even deeper shade of red at this (if that was even possible) and she shook her head violently, trying to stop herself from remembering what Blair had said in an attempt to get the meister to come home.

"Well, of course I trust him, he's my partner!" she said, her voice shaking slightly. Channing sat up as well and Maka once again thanked her lucky stars that she was a full three inches taller that the other girl, because the glint in her blue eyes was extremely intimidating. This is Channing we're talking about here folks. She may be five feet of pure cuteness, but Maka knew that under that sweet exterior was a sneaky, conniving little girl, so she had to watch what she said.

"Yeah, but you don't trust guys at _all_, so even if he was your partner you would keep him at a distance just because he has a penis. It took forever to let Marcus that close to you, and you've known each other for nearly your whole lives." Maka had to admit, the tiny blonde had a point. '_Damn her,' _she thought, growling internally.

"Even if I had any… feelings for Soul, it wouldn't be love. He's my weapon and I'm his meister. There's a ton of rules about weapon-meister relationships-" Channing cut her off with a wave of her hand (which was still slightly pale from its stay under Kari's thin frame).

"Okay, let's completely forget that you two are partners for now. For the rest of this conversation, you're just a girl and Soul-kun is just a very attractive boy." Maka bristled at Channing's comment about Soul and Channing tucked that reaction away to use as a debate point later if needed. "You still talk about him more than necessary, even for a meister. It's always 'Soul this' and 'Soul that'. Admit it, you think about him all the time."

Maka shrugged, her face still burning. "After spending three years when all I thought about was turning him into a Death Scythe, it's kind of hard to get him off my mind now. I'm so used to thinking about how to make him stronger all the time, its habit."

"But you don't think about him like a partner anymore, do you? You think about other things," Channing pointed out. Maka winced, remembering why she never fought with Channing. She made too many good points.

'_It's true, I think about him all the time, but never like a partner.'_ The way he smiled at her whenever they got a soul, how he would always wrap his arm protectively around her whenever they went out-of-country, how she always wondered if his teeth where as sharp as they looked and would they hurt if he ever kissed her- WOAH STOP! Maka shook her head, trying to stop her brain from going a more R-rated road.

"Okay, you got me there Channing, but so what? It's just a little school girl crush, we live together, we're bound to develop some feelings towards each other."

"HA!" Channing exclaimed pointing at Maka with a devilish smirk, the strap of her tank top sliding off her shoulder and revealing even more of her ample cleavage (Maka silently cursed the girl. She was only a month older than she was and she still had bigger breasts than the meister). "You said _we_ that time!" Maka's eyes widened slightly and she covered her mouth.

"Maaakaaa," Channing sang, scooting closer to Maka after pushing Kari's arms off her leg. "Does Soul-kun like you?" Maka frowned, scratching her cheek.

"I don't know. I mean, Blair said something, but she's Blair (AN- This is clearly the explanation for everything), and Tsubaki's always going on about how we should get together, but she's a hopeless romantic," she said, wringing her hands together. '_As you apparently are as well,' _she thought with an irritated sigh. Channing seemed to completely ignore her, squealing happily.

"Oh that is so cute! It's just like that book you lent me that one time! When the weapon and meister fell in love and then the weapon ends up giving her life to save her meister-"

"Channing, do not even go there," Maka said with a withering glare, silencing the girl. "One, weapon-meister relationships never work out. Just look at my parents. Two, they both DIED in that book, and frankly Soul's scared me enough times by risking his life trying to protect me."

"See? That just proves it!" Channing said happily, clapping her hands together.

"Proves what?" Both blondes turned towards the older girl as she propped herself up on her elbow, wiping the grit from her frosty blue eyes. Maka had always thought that Kari's eyes looked like fog in the morning, and turned into steel as she got progressively more alert.

"That Soul-kun likes Maka-chan!" Channing said happily, quirking her head to the side and smiling so widely that her cheeks nearly hid her eyes. Kari narrowed her eyes and pouted. After last night's sleepover (which we will not discuss for it is much too embarrassing and potentially incriminating to publish publicly), Kari was exhausted and didn't need to wake up to her two best friends rambling on about boys. Besides, this conversation had cost her both of her human pillows, so she was a bit annoyed.

"Channing, Maka probably doesn't want to talk about Soul too much right now," she said, rolling her eyes at her two friend's antics. Channing pouted her small pink lips, her lake blue eyes filling with unshed tears, and Maka mouthed "Thank you," at the irritated dancer.

"But Kari-chan!" Channing whined, latching onto the older girl's arm. "Don't you think that Soul-kun likes Maka-chan? I mean, it's so perfect!" Maka facepalmed, shaking her head as she tried to shoo away the coming headache.

"Well if last night's events are any indication, then yes, he does. Now can you lie back down? I wanna get some more sleep-"

"Wait!" Maka blurted out, her moss green eyes wide. "What events? Soul said that you called him and asked him to pick me up!" Kari quirked a chocolate eyebrow and shifted up so that she resting her weight on her hands.

"Hon, I didn't call him. He just randomly showed up with your friends Kidd, Liz, and Patti, punched Marcus off of you, and then you two," she gestured at both blondes with her hand," convinced him to stay longer."

"What. Events?" Maka growled out. Kari rolled her eyes and with a groan sat all the way up.

"Never gonna get back to sleep now," she mumbled, rubbing her face with a graceful hand. "Well one, he agreed to dance with you and once you got a little too close backed off blushing and stuttering according to Shannon and Carly. Two, when you two were trying to get out of the club, and don't hold me to this since I got the story from Kidd, apparently you two had to hide from some guards, so in order to 'blend in,'" Kari made little air quotes at this time, "you got him to make out with you." Kari smirked at Maka's wide-eyed, slack jawed, stare. "And trust me, he was enjoying himself a hell of a lot."

"W-what! I got him to- I forced him to- I DID WHAT!" Maka screeched, all of her blood flooding to her face as the memories flooded back in (memories of the club came back in flashes every now and again). She hid her red face in her hands and Channing patted her back, giggling at her distress.

"I wouldn't say forced exactly," Kari drawled, smiling pervertedly at the meister. Maka glared at the brunette through her ash blonde tresses and pouted. She sat up suddenly, running her tongue across her lips and her eye widening.

"Oh god," she gasped, her eyes wide and face red. Kari leaned forward and grasped her chin, inspecting the girl's lips, and laughed loudly.

"Oh man, your lips are _bruised_! And not to mention that there are little bite marks. Damn, he must have enjoyed himself!" Both of Maka's friends fell onto their backs, laughing uncontrollably. Maka tried to avoid joining in, but their laughter was contagious, and it took the three girls nearly seven minutes to recover from the awful giggle fits (Kidd would have been appalled).

"Well," Maka drawled shyly, playing with her fingers. "He was a pretty good kisser." The two dancers immediately tackled her for details, and soon the three girls were laughing again, Maka's eyes tearing up with the force of her laughter.

**-0-**

Hours later, the three sat in the studio below, joined by Marcus as they joked amongst themselves. Marcus had listened patiently while Kari and Channing had explained the situation, and he had offered Maka a hug and her choice of the dances they would practice that day.

"You deserve it Shibusen," he said, smiling widely as he looked down at the blonde meister. "You need to let go of some stress, and dancing is a sure fire way to do that." Maka smiled back at him, thankful for the gracious gesture.

"Thanks Marcus-"

"HEY MAKA!"

The four teens turned towards the large picture window that looked out into the hall, and Maka's face drained of color when she saw Kidd, BlackStar, Tsubaki, and the Thompson Sisters standing outside, smiling and waving enthusiastically.

"Oh great," Kari moaned, her entire body seeming to deflate. "It's _him." _

"OF COURSE IT'S ME! I'M THE GREAT BLACKSTAR AND I'M-"

"Going to get your legs broken again if you don't shut up," Kari growled, her eyes sparking with steely fire at the younger boy. The two immediately began to fight and the rest of the Shibusen teens sweatdropped as they filed into the studio.

"W-what are you guys doing here!" Maka stuttered, her eyes wide in panic. '_Why are they here? WHY ARE THEY HERE!'_

"We came to see you silly!" Patti said, hugging the meister fiercely, popping the girl's back in at least 20 different places.

"Yeah Maka! You dancing is huge news, and we just had to see it for ourselves!" Liz smiled in her lazy way and draped a long arm around the miester's shoulder. "We saw you dancing in the club the other night, but we wanted to see what you were really capable of." Maka blushed at the reference to the club night and looked at the other kids (Channing and Marcus were trying to separate Kari and BlackStar as they wrestled on the floor).

"B-but how did you guys find this place? You guys don't even come to this part of town!" Maka exclaimed, trying desperately to calm down. After Soul found out, wouldn't the nest obvious step be her fellow meisters and their weapons? '_It's just gonna spread Maka,' _she thought, taking a deep breath. '_You might as well get used to dealing with it.'_

"Kari-chan gave me the address after we talked on the phone last night, and I invited everyone to come with me," Tsubaki said shyly, clasping her hands in front of her body. "I hope you don't mind." Maka looked around the room and sighed again, running her fingers through her bangs (a nervous tick she had picked up from Soul).

"Nah, its fine. They would have found out on their own eventually," she sighed, smiling wearily at the shy Dark Arm. Tsubaki made a happy little noise and pulled the meister into a hug much gentler than Patti's death hugs. After she had introduced everyone to the three dancers, Maka smiled and headed over the stereo system.

"What 'cha doin' Maka?" Patti asked, skipping over to the meister's side, the rest of the teens looking at Maka.

"Well, if you guys are here I might as well make it worth your while," Maka said with a shrug.

"You're going to dance for us?" Tsubaki asked happily, clapping her hands. Maka nodded and the other teens cheered happily. As Kari kicked them all out into the hall, Channing, Marcus, and Maka stood by the stereo, debating over which dance to do in hushed tones. Kidd watched and was surprised to see how close the four were, joking and laughing as easily as siblings.

"How long did you say they've known each other?" Kidd asked Tsubaki, leaning closer to the tall Japanese girl.

"About 11 years according to Kari-chan," she said. The Shinigami whistled slowly, his eyebrows high. '_Wow, they really have known Maka forever,' _he thought. His attention snapped back to the studio as the four teens walked back onto the floor, Maka shaking slightly from her nerves. As she settled herself next to Marcus in the middle, she looked through the window at the group, swallowing nervously. The five teens all gave her thumbs up and she smiled, pulling her hair back into a high ponytail.

"Okay," Kari said, stepping forward with her hands on her hips. "This is a piece I choreographed to the song 'Let Us Love' by Needtobreathe. Enjoy, and would all blue-haired midget gorillas please keep their thoughts to themselves," she said, glaring at BlackStar while she said the last part.

The music began, and after waiting a few moments for the lead singer to begin, the four teens began to dance. The Shibusen students were stunned into silence as the group moved together effortlessly. Maka herself was glowing, smiling and laughing as she twisted and turned, and the group gasped as Marcus threw her through the air, her legs reaching a full split as she flew across the room. Kari and Channing were not to be ignored as they performed the complicated contemporary moves, their feet moving with the sureness of Shibusen's best meisters. During one part, the four teens stopped to clap along with the song, and the Shibusen teens easily joined in, smiling and singing along with the dancers. Maka and Marcus had their own quick duet, and Tsubaki wondered briefly if Maka would be able to move so effortlessly if she were dancing with her weapon partner and not her dancing one. At the end of the dance, the four teens leaned upon each other, trying desperately to catch their breath.

Maka looked up, waiting for her friends' response when they suddenly shot up, clapping and whistling. The blonde meister beamed at the standing ovation of five, and wasn't surprised in the least when they rushed into the room and she was promptly tackled by all of the girls.

"MAKA THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" Patti yelled happily, hugging the girl tightly.

"You were phenomenal!" Tsubaki cheered quietly but happily as she hugged the girl's arm.

"Damn girl, why did you keep that to yourself? You would have boys crawling at your feet if they knew you could move like that!" Maka blushed at Liz's compliment, and the older weapon laughed as she slung her arm around Maka's shoulders again. "What did you think Kidd?" the demon pistol asked, focusing her attention on her meister.

"It was wonderful, except for one thing…" he said, stroking his chin. Maka's face fell, but they were all stunned when he spun and pointed at Channing. The tiny girl blinked once as the Shingami was suddenly all in her face. "YOUR SYMMETRY IS ALL OFF! IT RUINED THE ENTIRE DANCE!" he yelled, shocking the entire room. Maka laughed, throwing her head back as she looked at the confused expressions Marcus, Kari, and Channing all wore.

"Channing's bangs sweep to the right," the meister explained between giggles. "And her hair always curls a bit at the end to the right." Kari shook her head, mouthing "What?" at the giggling girl.

Channing watched silently as Kidd slumped to the floor, hitting the floor, screaming about the lack of symmetry. Liz rolled her eyes and her sister fell over in wild fits of laughter. The asymmetrical beast herself looked back at Maka, pointing at Kidd and quirking her eyebrow with a look that screamed "What the hell is his problem?"

"OCD," she explained with a shrug. Marcus at this point had joined Patti on the floor as he laughed and Kari facepalmed herself, grumbling under her breath about crazy meisters and Shibusen being a bad influence on her little sister.

"It was okay, but you're still not as big of a star as me!" BlackStar said in his haughty way, pointing at his chest with his thumb.

"Why do you always bitch about how 'big you are'? We got it the first time you annoying little fuck!" Kari growled, rolling her eyes and brushing her bangs from her face.

"I'M THE MAN WHOSE GONNA SURPASS GOD!" the blue-haired boy yelled, suddenly in Kari's face as he screamed (subsequently spitting all over her face). "WHY SHOULDN'T I BOAST ABOUT BIG I AM?"

Wiping her face, Kari rolled her eyes again and leaned towards Maka. "I thought he just had a size issue, if you know what I mean," she stage whispered. The entire room broke out into laughter (except BlackStar, who was screaming at the top of his lungs at the brunette). "Hey Liz," Kari said suddenly, shifting her attention to the laughing demon pistol. "You think that was good, you should see Maka do hip hop." Liz's blue eyes were immediately on Maka and the blonde shivered under her intense gaze.

"Maka," the older weapon growled. "You are dancing for us. Now." Maka opened her mouth to object, but Marcus threw his hand over her mouth, dragging her out to the floor.

"Channing put on Scars!" he yelled, smiling widely. The younger blonde laughed evilly and ran to the stereo, flipping through the iPod for a few seconds before a new, very different song came on. Maka sparred only a moment to glare at the taller boy before they began to dance the complicated duet with ease.

About thirty minutes later, Maka smiled widely as she waved good bye to her friends, watching them leave as they called back their promises to come back. The last half hour had been spent joking, dancing, and trying to keep BlackStar from knocking the building down. He finally challenged Kari to a dance-off, and though he was a surprisingly good street dancer, Kari wiped the floor with him.

He shut up promptly after that.

"You're friends are insane," Kari deadpanned. The green-eyed girl turned towards her older friend and Kari smirked. "They'll fit right in!" Both girls laughed, and as they got ready for dinner, Maka couldn't help but smile.

"You wanna head home tonight?" Channing asked, stripping down to her underwear in Kari's room. Maka stopped changing and frowned thoughtfully, seriously thinking about the smaller girl's question.

"Not tonight. I lied to Soul, and…" Maka stopped, biting her bottom lip. "I just can't face him yet."

"You should at least text the poor boy," Kari said carefully, rubbing Maka's back with her shirt half on, half off.

"Yeah, I guess…" Maka walked over to her bag, digging around in search of her phone and pulling out the device a few seconds later. Quickly finding Soul's number, the blonde thought for a few seconds about what she would send him and quickly typed it in.

.:.

To: Soul – cooldude99  
From: Maka – grigorigurl5  
Subject: Hey  
Gang came by studio, danced for them and was promptly tackled afterwards (I think Patti broke my spine). Miss you, but can't come back tonight. Still too… ashamed? I don't know, I can't find the word for it. Hope you still forgive me.

.:.

Reading it over once more, she nodded and clicked send, tucking the phone into the pocket of her jeans.

"I hope Soul gets it alright," the meister mumbled, clutching her shirt to her chest. Kari and Channing exchanged a look, and after shoving the t-shirt over Maka's head, dragged her out into the kitchen, tempting the meister with promises of ice cream Sundays and Back To The Future marathons. Maka laughed and let herself be dragged along, Kari pulling one arm and Channing pulling the other. All three girls came to a halt when Maka's phone pinged loudly. The meister scrambled for the phone and flipped the screen up, her eyes widening.

"That was fast!" Channing gasped, her blue eyes wide. "What does he say, what does he say!"

" 'Jerks got to see you dance before I did, remind me to kick their asses later (you're not allowed to break your spine while you're gone). Miss you too, and I understand. I get why you did what you did, and I really don't care. Just come home soon, 'kay? Damn right I still forgive you,' " Maka read, her eyes filling up at the sweet words. Both Channing and Kari "awwww"ed at the sweet text, smiling.

"See!" Channing said happily. "I told you he liked you!" Maka blushed at her words, but she still smiled. '_Maybe-' _she thought as she began to type in her reply. _'Maybe I can just let myself believe for a while that he really does like me.'_

**-0-**

Soul smiled down at his phone, reading Maka's message over again.

.:.

To: Soul – cooldude99  
From: Maka – grigorigurl5  
Subject: Thanks  
You just made both Kari and Channing "aww" w/ that txt. I applaud you, not much impresses Kari. Thanks for being so understanding, see you Monday for sure, if not Sunday.  
Don't worry, I'm gonna dance for you next :). Glad to be paired with the coolest partner ever, Maka.

.:.

He held the phone to his chest, leaning his back and closing his eyes. The day had been busy, if not somewhat annoying. Blair had made him breakfast again (toaster waffles this time) and had made it her personal mission to keep him distracted all day. She tried everything, from asking him to take her riding on his bike, to dragging him to the closest record store. He hadn't had a spare moment, but the Death Scythe had still thought about Maka all day. The longer he thought about, the less upset he was. Maka's life was her own business, and if she wanted to keep some parts to herself, that was her decision. '_No matter how much it hurts.' _When the two roommates had gotten home, Soul had collapsed on the couch, importing his new CDs into his iTunes and playing with some chords on his guitar. All the while he was thinking about his meister.

"I'm sure Maka-chan is fine scythe boy!" Blair had reassured, rubbing his back. "Just give her a few days and she'll be back before you know it!" Oh, he would know the second she came home. He had one eye on the door at all times, watching and waiting for his meister to step through the door, smiling and laughing. Soul didn't quite know what he was going to do when Maka came home, but it was probably going to be the uncoolest moment of his life, and frankly he didn't give a fuck. He would happily give up every last bit of his cool persona just to have his meister back in his life, back in his arms. He wanted her back desperately, and he was going crazy slowly but surely.

"Like a virgin! Touched for the very first time!" Soul looked up and grabbed his phone, wincing at the stupid ringtone.

"Soul Eater, what do you want?" he drawled, not responding with his usual bark.

"Soul-kun? Hey, it's Channing, Maka-chan's friend?" Soul sat up immediately.

"Yeah, the blonde one right?" The girl on the other line laughed.

"'The blonde one'? Damn, I'm losing my touch!" she joked, sounding at ease. Wait, that wasn't ease. She was whispering.

"Any particular reason why you're whispering?" the albino teen asked, quirking his eyebrow. Channing laughed nervously, and though he couldn't see her, she winced.

"Um, Maka-chan doesn't… exactly know that I'm calling you." Soul sighed , shaking his head. "How 'bout we meet up to talk, somewhere where I won't have to worry about Kari-chan or Maka-chan overhearing?"

"Um, sure. Where did you have in mind?" He walked into the kitchen, grabbing a notepad and pen.

"There's a twenty-four hour café that I know of, level 4-ish," she said. Death City had been built from the ground up, and many of the citizens had taken to referring to the city in levels. Shibusen, the highest point in the city, was level S, and Soul and Maka's apartment on level 8, the next one down. As Channing gave Soul directions, he wondered what was so important that she needed to meet him about and that her two friends couldn't hear. Agreeing to meet in ten minutes, Soul headed out the door, shrugging on his leather jacket on the way out.

He arrived a few minutes early, claiming a table towards the back and ordering himself a coffee. It was a small café, tucked away in Death City's historic region (Soul had been in this area many times before on Shibusen missions). The furniture mainly consisted of couches and chairs, with only a few tables lining the walls. After a minute of silent debating, Soul moved to one of the couches, laughing as he sunk deep into the couch.

"Oooh, that's it," he said, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

"It's one of my favorites too." Soul's head shot up, his eyes immediately latching onto the small girl that stood in front of him. She wore a pair of skinny jeans, a tank top, a jacket, and a smile, her blue eyes shining. "Channing Antoinette," she said, holding out her hand.

"Soul Eater. Nice to meet you." He shook her hand and Channing sat down, bringing her legs up and leaning into the couch. "So, how can I help you?" he asked. The younger girl smiled, her eyes half lidded as she picked up her own cup of coffee.

"You know, Maka-chan and I have known each other for nearly 12 years. She's like my little sister."

"Wait, little?" Soul quirked his eyebrow and Channing laughed.

"Yeah, little. Maka-chan's the baby of the group, but only by a month. I know, I know," she laughed again, a soft tinkling sound. "I'm the runt of the litter, but trust me, Maka-chan's the baby. We spoiled her like crazy when we were kids, and we still worry about her all the time today. She doesn't know this, but whenever you two leave for an overnight mission or disappear for more than a week, all of us at the studio freak out." Soul nodded. He knew the feeling.

"Yeah, she worries me too sometimes. I'm tuned into her soul wavelength and even I have trouble predicting what she's gonna do," he said, smiling into his coffee. "You don't have to worry though. She's an excellent meister and even if she slips up, which is rare, I'm here to protect her."

"I know." Soul looked up at the tiny blonde dancer and she smiled wistfully at him. "Maka-chan told me about Italy, and I can honestly say that you don't know how much that means to us, Kari-chan and I." Channing rested her hand on Soul's leg. "You saved our little sister, and we can't even begin to explain where that put you in our eyes." Soul smiled back at her. "Gah, listen to me," she said, leaning back and taking her hand off. "I sound like such a sap!"

"Eh, I'm used to it. I doubt you called me down here to thank me, as nice as that was, but what is it you really want?" Channing's smile shifted, going for megawatt down to coy and sneaky. She sat straight up and Soul knew that he was messing with Channing's serious side now.

"Hm, you don't beat around the bush do you?" Soul shook his head and Channing's smile turned into a smirk as he took a sip of his coffee. "Well good, neither do I. You're in love with Maka-chan, aren't you?"

Soul choked on his coffee, his crimson eyes wide as he beat his fist against his chest, trying to stop the hot liquid from going down the wrong way.

"Wha-What!" he coughed, staring at the now laughing girl like she was crazy (and Soul has a very loose definition of crazy).

"Oh man! You should've seen your face! Oh, Kari-chan will be so mad that I didn't take a picture!" she managed to laugh out, her eyes tearing up.

"Are you out of your mind!" he hissed, wiping his mouth with the edge of his jacket. Channing stopped laughing, wiping her eyes.

"No, just perceptive. Listen, it's not going to do you any good to lie to me, so you might as well admit it now," she said, looking at him with an almost smug expression.

"What makes you think that I'm in-I'm in love with Maka?" Soul managed to ask, his face red. With a smirk, Channing leaned forward and tapped his chest with her knuckles.

"When you threw yourself in front of a blade for Maka-chan, were you thinking 'I've got to protect my meister?' or 'I've got to protect Maka?'" Soul opened his mouth to retort, but closed it again. '_Damn it, she's got a point!' _he thought angrily.

"I don't see what it matters-"

"Oh it completely matters," Channing hissed. "I want to know why. And if you tell me that you did it just because Maka's your meister, I swear to god I will hit you."

The next few moments were completely silent, the two teens staring each other down.

"…Fine." Channing lit up at the muttered word, Soul's bangs covering his eyes. "Like I said, it doesn't matter. Maka's my meister and I'm her weapon. Even if I did… love her, we can't have a relationship. There's too many rules, and she has too many bad memories."

"So what?" Soul looked up the dancer, her golden eyebrows pulled down over lake blue eyes. "You love her, don't you? And yet you're going to let a little rule get in your way? I thought you were a Death Scythe. I thought Death Scythe's weren't afraid of anything?"

"I'm not afraid!" Soul protested, but cut off when Channing leaned forward, getting in his face.

"Then go after her," she whispered. "Make her yours, because she won't be single forever. One of these days, some other guy is going to see what you do, and unlike you, he'll have the _balls _to ask her out! Do you want that to happen?"

"No!" Soul hissed.

"Then do something about it!" Channing yelled, shooting up from her seat. "You'll never know unless you try Soul Eater, so it's best you try now before you lose your chance!" Sighing, Channing sat back down. "Soul-kun, I know I'm coming off all wrong-"

"Really?" Soul asked sarcastically.

"But you've got to understand, I'm doing this for Maka-chan." Channing smiled her megawatt smile. "She likes you too Soul-kun, she's just waiting for you to make that first move." She stood again, heading to the counter and ordering a muffin, giving Soul a minute to think over their conversation.

'_Maka likes me?' _he thought, fiddling with the lid of his coffee cup. It was hard to see, Maka liking the lazy Death Scythe, but then again, who said that Channing was telling the truth? She could be lying just to get him to ask Maka out. But still, the tiny blonde had a point as much as he hated to admit. Soul had always had a following of fangirls, but it was only recently that the weapon and meister pair had discovered that Maka had her own following. The blonde meister had already turned down quite a few partner requests (in both senses of the word) and Soul knew that the day was coming when Maka would say "yes".

"Muffin?" Channing offered, holding out a warm muffin and running Soul's train of thought off the tracks.

"Um, yeah. Thanks," the 17 year old said, taking the muffin and quickly taking a bite. Channing watched as he ate, randomly taking small bites of her own muffin.

"Cool teeth," she said randomly, smiling widely at her eating companion. Soul looked up and swallowed, showing off his shark's smirk.

"Aren't they? Cool teeth for a cool guy!"

"How did you get 'em?" Channing asked, genuinely interested. Soul shrugged and took another bite of muffin.

"Most bladed weapons have 'em, though some prefer to have their teeth fixed. It's something to do with the weapon gene and making the weapon more suitable for eating souls, some evolution crap," he explained, still chewing. Channing frowned slightly and ran her tongue over her teeth. Soul noticed this and turned towards the girl."You a weapon?" he asked, surprised.

"Oh, no no no," Channing said, waving her hands in front of her chest. "I come from a family of weapons, but I haven't shown any signs of having weapon blood. Two of my brothers do though, and I was just picturing them with sharp teeth." The blonde giggled. "It's a really funny mental picture. I can just see Danny whining about how 'We're twins, so shouldn't I have super sharp teeth too? Mama make Noah share!'" Both teens laughed, and the next hour was spent talking about different famous weapon families and some Shibusen myths that Soul had found to be either true or false.

"Well, I better head back before they start missing me too much," Channing said, standing up with a yawn.

"Okay. Well, thanks for inviting me… I guess," Soul said, holding out his hand. Channing took it and after a quick handshake, headed off. Hopping onto his bike, Soul took the long way back to his apartment, thinking about what Channing and said and trying to make sense of his own confused emotions.

**-0-**

_Dimanche_

**-0-**

"MAKAAAAA!" Maka looked up from her book, tucking a piece of blonde hair behind her ear.

"What is it Kari?" she yelled back. It was midmorning, and already the meister's Sunday had been busy. After last night's movie marathon, Channing had told them (sheepishly scratching her cheek) that she had agreed to babysit her younger brothers, and the next morning the three had migrated to the Antoinette house. Maka and Kari had immediately ran for the sanctuary of Channing's room as the young blond was forced to deal with two hyper-active twin boys (Natalie had very stupidly give the twin's 'Chocolate Sugar-Covered Cocoa Bombs (1)').

"Your headmaster just showed up in the bathroom mirror," the older girl growled, appearing in the doorway with wet hair and a towel. Maka quirked her eyebrow, setting her book down on the window seat where she had previously been sitting.

"My head-what?"

"Crazy ass guy with skull mask and guillotine hallway? Yeah, he just showed up in mirror while I was changing. Is he a pedophile or something?" But Maka didn't hear Kari, for she had already ran down the hall into the bathroom.

"Lord Death?" she gasped, seeing the familiar mask in Channing's bathroom mirror.

"Hey Meister Maka! Wassup wassup wasuuup?" Lord Death cheered happily behind his emotionless mask, flashing the peace sign. "How's it goin'?"

"Okay I guess. How did you know I was here?"

"And WHY couldn't have waited until I was DRESSED to call or whatever crazy shit you're doing?" Kari snapped, her steely blue eyes flashing dangerously. Maka hadn't noticed her come in, and she jumped slightly.

"Sorry Kari, I would have waited if I had known the bathroom was occupied," Lord Death said, quirking his mask to the right.

"DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULD HAVE – how did you know my name?"

"Your father Willheim (2) was an excellent meister and one of the nicer ones. I remember when he came in to tell me about his little daughter being born and I must say, you look hauntingly similar to your father." Kari normally would have smiled at the compliment, but she just pouted and nodded to Maka once.

"I'll let you two talk I guess. Tell Spirit I said hi." With that, it was just Maka and Lord Death.

"So Maka, I hear you and Soul are fighting." Maka winced slightly at the death god's calm tone.

"Well, it's not exactly fighting. I was keeping a major secret from him, and he found out somehow. I panicked and just needed some time to think things over. I was planning on heading back tomorrow before school." Lord Death nodded.

"Alrighty then! I'm sure you and Soul will work even better together after this whole thing is-"

"MAAAAAAKAAAAAAA!" Maka jumped nearly a foot in the air when her father's face appeared in the mirror. "ARE YOU OKAY! DID THAT OCTAPUS HEAD DO ANYTHING TO HURT YOU! I'M GONNA KILL THAT KID!" Maka opened her mouth to interrupt his rant, but he just kept going. "OH MY POOR BABY GIRL! PAPA LOVES YOU SO MU-"

"REAPER CHOP!" Maka sweatdropped as she watched her father nurse the giant welt in his head. "Maka, don't you think you should get the door?"

"The door? There's no one at the-" Maka was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell downstairs, and Kari's yell of "MAKAA! DOOOOR!" Maka turned back to the mirror, stunned, but was met by her own reflection instead of the cheerful Shinigami.

Heading down the stairs, Maka smoothed down her "GOT SOUL?" t-shirt (AN- XDDDDDDDDDDD) and jean capris. She was nearly trampled to death by Noah and Danny, but one glare from the scythe meister stopped both brunette boys in their tracks.

"H-hi Maka!" Noah said nervously, scooting behind his brother. "Y-you feelin' okay?"

"Like, less murderous that normal?" Danny said boldly, making his brother's eyes widen. Maka opened her mouth to respond, but was once again interrupted by Kari.

"MAKA COME GET THE GOD DAMN DOOR OR SO HELP ME I WILL THROW YOU OFF THE ROOF!"

"AND I'LL JUST LAND ON MY FEET AND PROCEED TO KICK YOUR ASS," Maka yelled back. After a final glare at the twin boys, Maka jogged to the door where Kari stood with her arms crossed.

"'Bout damn time," she grumbled, leaving the hallway.

"Why couldn't you get it?" Maka growled.

"She's _your_ friend," Kari said, walking into the kitchen. Maka rolled her eyes and pulled the door open quickly. Her eyes immediately lit up and she threw her arms around the meister in the doorway.

"Chrona! I can't believe you're here! How was your mission in Paris?" she said happily, pulling back from the pink-haired girl with a wide smile. Chrona was a good half foot taller than Maka, and she had changed quite a lot since Maka had last seen her. Her pink hair was pulled back into a small, spiky ponytail at the base of her neck, her haphazard bangs hanging over her pale eyes. The black blazer and skinny jeans she wore complimented her now more feminine shape, and the tie that she was fiddling with was a soft blue.

"H-hey Maka!" Chrona said happily, stuttering just a little bit. She had been going to therapy for the past two years, and she was much more stable, to the point when Lord Death trusted her to go on solo missions. "Paris was good, the food was awesome!" Maka smiled widely and pulled the meister into another hug.

"Oh man Chrona, it's wonderful to see you again! I thought you were going to be on that long-term mission for another two months."

"So did I," Chrona admitted with a shrug, coming into the house. "But Lord D-Death said that there was a more important mission for me here, and called me back."

"What's the mission?" Maka asked curiously, dragging Chrona upstairs to join her on the window seat.

"You," Maka stopped in her tracks and turned to Chrona with wide eyes. The demon sword meister just smiled. "He said that you were fighting with Soul and needed someone to talk to."

"She's got us for that too you know!" Channing yelled as she ran past, chasing her two brothers with a devilish scowl. Chrona edged closer to Maka as the shorter girl shot past. With a roll of her eyes, Maka sat down and dragged Chrona down with her.

"Say, where's Ragnarok?" Maka asked suddenly, looking around. "Did he come with you?"

"He should be outside," Chrona said hesitantly, looking out the open window at the background. At that exact moment, a rock came flying out of nowhere and slammed into the tall meister's forehead, sending her back.

"HAHA!" Maka growled at the rough laughter and looked out the window. "Man, Chrona! Watch where you put that big dumb head of yours!" The man that stood below them smirked widely and cocked a hip to the left. His short black hair was gelled back and a large white "X" crisscrossed across the bridge of his nose. He was tall and buff, his leather jacket hanging from his hand over one shoulder.

Ragnarok had mellowed out significantly after Lord Death (in a method that was much too complex for even Maka to understand) had returned him to his human body after their fight with Medusa, but he was still a major pain in the ass. Maka honestly didn't understand why he hung around, or why Chrona let him for that matter. He had made it painfully clear that he hated pretty much everyone at Shibusen, but he still came with Chrona everyday and sat next to his shy meister quietly.

"RAGNAROK! DON'T MAKE ME SET KARI ON YOUR SORRY ASS!" Maka screeched, her emerald eyes flashing dangerously. Ragnarok just smiled lazily, sticking his tongue out at the irritated meister.

"Just leave it Maka," Chrona said quietly, holding her forehead. Maka frowned and stepped out of the room for a moment. '_Oh no, did I make her mad? Gah, I don't know how to deal with this!" _Chrona thought despairingly. But Maka came back in a few moments later, smiling widely. "A-are you mad at me?" Chrona stammered. Maka simply motioned for Chrona to join her at the window. They both watched as Ragnarok stood there, smiling creepily, when the demon sword was suddenly pummeled with four or five water balloons. Chrona began to giggle wildly as her weapon looked around, bewildered and furious. Kari, Channing, and the Twins laughed and ran, still holding some extra water balloons.

The two meisters leaned back into the building and Chrona smiled widely at Maka. "Thanks Maka. I think it's about time he needed an attitude adjustment," she said shyly. Maka smirked widely, just like Soul always did, and gave Chrona's hand a quick squeeze. "So Maka," Chrona began, stripping off her black blazer. "Tell me about this fight with Soul."

Here's one of the great things about Chrona. She is a WONDERFUL listener. As Maka told her the entire story, she just sat quietly, her pale eyes never leaving Maka's moss green ones and only interrupting to ask Maka to clarify a point or ask a question. It took Maka nearly an hour to tell Chrona the whole story, twice as long as it took with Blair, but Chrona just sat and listened. When the scythe meister had finished, Chrona silently pulled the blonde into a hug.

Maka clutched the fabric of her white shirt tightly, sobbing quietly into the sword meister's shoulder. "I-I thought I had cried out all of my tears the other night!" Maka gasped, her eyes screwed tightly closed. Chrona just patted her back, letting her cry.

"You always have a few tears to spare when your sad Maka," Chrona said gently. " I should know." Maka nodded mutely and the two meisters just sat together. After a few minutes, Maka pulled away, wiping her eyes.

"Thanks for that Chrona," she said, smiling sadly. Chrona nodded happily, but jumped nearly a foot in the air when the door was slammed open. Both girls looked up and had to hold back giggles at the sight before them.

Ragnarok.

Was.

DRENCHED.

His clothes clung to his body, and judging by the steam coming off his body, he was pissed. "Come on Chrona, let's go," he growled, stomping over and grabbing his meister's hand. With one final glare at a very smug looking Maka, Ragnorak dragged his blushing meister out of the room.

"Bye Maka! I'll talk to you later!" Chrona called over her shoulder. Maka smiled and waved. Not two minutes later, Kari walked in, her hair pulled back in a lazy braid and a piece of toast hanging out of her mouth.

"Damn that boy can run," she sighed, plopping down onto Channing's bed. She squirmed to the edge of the bed so that her head fell over the side as she looked at Maka. "Feel better?" she asked, finishing off her toast.

"Yeah, I am," Maka smiled. Channing came in next, flopping down on top of Kari so that her head was resting on the taller girl's stomach.

"Well, the Twins are asleep," she said with a sigh, running her fingers through her lemon yellow bangs, "They should be out for at least three hours. What do you guys feel like doing?"

"PORTAL 2," Kari yelled without hesitation, pumping her fist in the air. Maka laughed, raising her hand to show that she seconded the idea.

"Well, you go and set it up, I'll go kidnap the extra controllers from Noah and Danny's room," Channing said, pushing herself up and leaving the room quickly. Kari rested her hands on the floor by her head, and in a graceful movement, she flipped over onto her feet. She stood easily, wiping imaginary dust off of her ratty tank top. Turning her head towards the blonde on the window seat, she quirked her head to the side and held her hand out to help Maka up.

"Nah, you go ahead," Maka said with a wave of her hand. "I'm going to text Soul really quick."

"Okay, have fun," Kari said with a shrug, running after Channing and yelling "I CALL PLAYING FIRST!" Maka watched her leave with a small smile and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She flipped through the contacts and when she reached Soul's number, her thumb hovered over the "New Message" button. '_Maybe I should call him instead…' _she thought, biting her still sore lip. She fought internally for a few moments, but she soon came to her decision, her thumb desending onto the button.

**-0-**

Soul nearly dropped his game controller when his phone went off in the background.

"HAHA! YOU STILL HAVEN'T CHANGED THAT DORKY RINGTONE?" BlackStar yelled, his turquoise eyes lighting up with demonic mirth. BlackStar and Kidd had once again invited themselves over to Soul's apartment for video games, this time playing Black Ops instead of Smash Bros.

"You're the one who put that lame ass ringtone on my phone," the Death Scythe growled, reaching for his phone with a roll of his eyes. The second he saw the name displayed on the caller ID, he was out of his seat, sprinting for his room.

"Wha-" Kidd barely managed to get out, before the door to Soul's room slammed closed. With a shake of his head, he turned back towards the screen, only to scream when he saw that BlackStar had somehow managed to kill him seven times in the few short seconds when his attention was diverted. "GAH! SEVEN! KILL ME AGAIN! KILL ME AGAIN!"

"Gladly," BlackStar said with a smug grin.

In his room, Soul quickly pressed the green button and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?" he breathed, crimson eyes wide.

"H-hey Soul." The demon weapon sighed in relief when his meister's voice rang clear through the line. He hadn't realized how much he had missed the way she said his name until she had stammered it out.

"Hey Maka," he replied, plopping onto his bed with a wide smile. He struggled to play it cool as he said "How's it goin'?"

"Good I guess," Maka said simply, and though Soul wasn't there with her, he could practically see her shrug. "We're over at Channing's place about to play Portal 2, and I figured I might as well call you."

"Aw man, she has Portal 2? Duuuude, I'm jealous," Soul groaned. "That game is supposed to be awesome!" Maka laughed at him good naturedly and Soul's entire body warmed up at the soft sound.

"I'll be sure to kidnap it for you," the girl laughed. There was a comfortable silence on the line for a few moments, Soul content with just listening to her breathe, when Maka suddenly inhaled sharply. "Soul, I'm sorry for-"

"Maka, stop." Soul said softly. "You have nothing to apologize for. It's your life, and you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

"But-!"

"Tell you what, you can make it up to me by cooking me dinner when you come home," Soul said with a soft laugh. Maka was silent for a few moments before he heard her laugh quietly.

"Gotcha," she said with a smile. "I am sorry for panicking though. I should have stayed and talked it out with you instead of running like I did."

It was Soul's turn to be silent for a few seconds, and he could hear her fidget on the other end. "Yeah, it wasn't exactly the coolest thing to do," he sighed finally. "But everyone has their breaking point, and I guess you reached yours." Forgetting temporarily that he couldn't see her, Maka nodded. "So!" Soul said, his voice suddenly sounding much happier. "Are you coming home tonight?"

Maka bit her lip, playing with the hem of her shirt. "I'm thinking tomorrow morning before school," she said slowly.

"Why not tonight?" Soul asked, trying to hide the heartbreak in his voice. He had hoped desperately that his meister would be coming home to him tonight. '_Why does she have to stay away another night? I can't take this anymore!' _he thought, his hand clenching into a fist by his side.

"I'm sorry Soul, I just need a few more hours," Maka said, her voice breaking as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "My whole life has been flipped upside down, and I need a little longer to figure out where to go from here."

"That's not true."

"Soul, I don't think you understa-"

"_I'm still here_." Maka's breath caught at the words, tears running faster down her cheeks. "I'm still your weapon, you're still my meister and best friend, and I'm never going to leave you no matter what," he said, his rough voice strong with confidence. "I don't know about you, but I think that's all the important things."

"Soul, thank you," Maka said, clutching the phone closer to her face, crying. "Thank you for staying by me."

"Anytime babe," Soul said, his tone teasing. "Now stop crying and go kick Kari's ass at Portal 2 for me, 'kay?" Maka nodded, forgetting once again that he couldn't see her. "And Maka?"

"Yeah Soul?" she sniffed, wiping her eyes.

"I miss you." With that, he hung up, and Maka just stared at the phone in her hand. Her bottom lip quivered for a moment before pulling up in a wide smile, and the blonde meister threw her head back with a laugh. She opened up a new text message, and after pressing send, ran downstairs. "HEY KARI? WANNA SEE WHO CAN COMPLETE THE LEVELS FASTER?"

.:.

To: Soul – cooldude99  
From: Maka – grigorigurl5  
Subject: Idiot

I miss you too.

.:.

**-0-**

**(1) – Calvin and Hobbs ref FTW!**

**(2) – I screwed up in the last chapter with Kari's dad. I said his name was Terrence, which is her older brother's name, instead of Willhiem. I apologize to those of you who got confused.**

**OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY! I SWEAR THAT I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE YOU GUYS WAIT THIS LONG FOR AN UPDATE! I lost my USB about two months ago, and it had all, I repeat, ALL of my stuff for this story on there. I just found it last night at like eleven o'clock at night (don't ask), and if I'm being completely honest, this story probably wouldn't have been updated for another few months if I hadn't found it. But to make up for the lateness, you guys get a super long chapter! 19 pages in Word folks!**

**I love this chapter so much, especially the scene with Soul and Channing. There's a huge, 'smack you in the face with its obviousness,' foreshadowing thingy in that scene that frankly, should be pretty obvious. Points to whoever gets it first!**

**The song that Maka and Marcus did a hip hop routine to is called "Scars" by Basement Jaxx feat. Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk. I love this song so much, and I have a very cool routine in my head for these two to that song. I wish you guys could see it, but alas, you cannot. Also, Portal 2 is a fucking FANTASTIC game, I highly recommend it for anyone with two thumbs and a sense of humor. " *speaking in a really bad country accent*Hello! I am speaking in an accent that is outside her range of hearin'!" XDDDD Oh Wheatly. **

**This week's piece of art is fanart of Kari and Channing drawn by none other than Miyaow on deviantArt! I love this girl to pieces, and this is the coolest picture ever! The link posted below is to my colored version. THANKS AGAIN MIYAOW!**

**http: / silverbloodalchemist . deviantart . com / gallery / # / d3ceky4  
**

**REVIEWS!**

**Thanks to everybody who reviewed, faved, and watched! You guys make all this worth it! I know I normally answer all of your reviews in this spot, but I A) want to get this chapter up in the next three minutes and B) am far too lazy to dig through my Gmail to find all of your reviews, so I won't be doing that this chapter. Know that I read every single one, and they all made my day! **

**Since we're so close, I'm going to go ahead and post this right now. The one hundredth reviewer gets a DTMOB themed one-shot! I love that this story has gotten such a fantastic reception on this site, and I hope we'll reach that goal in the next two chapters!**

**IN TOTALLY RANDOM NEWS! Today is my dance performance in which I will be performing a dance I choreographed for my class! I'll put the link to the YouTube video on my profile when it goes up! Wish me luck!**

**I can't guarantee when the next chapter is going to be up, but I only have 13 days of school left (THANK FUCKING GOD) so I'll assume it won't be nearly three months like last time *sweatdrops*. I'm going to focus on my other fic Airship Grigori for a while, then I need to finish All's Fair (which I've been putting off forever). I also have an idea for a fic for me to write over the summer that I want to start. It's going to be called "Speak Easy," and it's the story of the Shibusen gang, but they're all the reincarnated crew from a speakeasy in Chicago! It's quite obviously an AU, and I've had this idea for a while. The whole plot line is all outlined in OneNote, and now I just have to get it typed up. I'm really looking forward to it, and hope it'll get the same reception as DTMOB and AG!**

**While I'm working on the next chapter, I'm also going to do some (A LOT) of editing on the first five chapters + Prologue. There's a lot of grammar issues and inconstancies in the first couple of chapters, so I want to get those all fixed up. Also, I've been promising myself that I'd rewrite the prologue (which I absolutely **_**hate**_**) forever, so you guys will have more to look forward to! **

**Don't forget that I'm taking requests for one-shots that will be posted in "Shibusen Two Step," a continuation of sorts to DTMOB! I haven't gotten any yet, but I know you guys are chock' full of ideas. I wanna hear them folks, so send 'em in!**

**See you guys in a few weeks!**

**Reviews keep the trolls from stealing my gorram USB again.**

**(In order to prevent this from happening again, I have been my USB on my keyring, and I put my keyring on a wrench. I mean, how often do you lose a **_**wrench**_**! Dead serious.)**

**V**

**V**

**V**

**V**


	8. Juste un autre bosse sur la route

**I don't own Soul Eater, but I do own a can of pancakes.**

**No, really. It's like whipped cream, only **_**pancake batter **_**comes out.**

**It's **_**fantastic**_**.**

**-0-**

**Juste un autre bosse sur la route**

**« Just Another Bump in the Road »**

**-0-**

Maka was usually an early riser, you know the type. Get up before the sun, don't seem to have a sleepy setting, are disgustingly peppy before _sane_ people are even awake, _those_ people?

Well recently, Maka had come to think of mornings like any normal person does.

They _suck._

Especially when they involve two of your best friends in the whole wide world literally dumping water on your head in order to get you up.

"WHAT THE FU-!" Maka screeched, green eyes wide as she shot straight up, shivers running up and down her back.

"Oh good," Kari said with a wide smile. "She's up."

"I'm- I'M UP! OF COURSE I'M UP! YOU DUMPED WATER ON MY HEAD!"

"Ice water," Channing added helpfully, blue eyes shining. Sure enough, when Maka looked down at her lap, there were a few chunks of ice in her lap.

"… I hate you both," she hissed, only her eyes looking up from her lap to glare at the two smiling dancers.

"Oh please," Kari drawled lazily, grabbing Maka's arm and tugging, pulling her forward, "You know that isn't true."

"Yeah! You love us!" Channing said with a laugh as she grabbed Maka's other arm. "Now come on, you have a big day ahead of you!" Both girls stopped at Maka's confused expression.

"You did _not_ forget what today is," Kari groaned, glaring at Maka with steely blue eyes.

"It's _six_ in the _morning_. Yes, yes I did."

"You're going back home this morning," Channing said softly, avoiding the water as she sat down next to a suddenly very somber Maka. She rubbed the meister's back comfortingly, wrapping her arms around Maka when her head flopped against her shoulder.

"Can I wait until after school?" Maka said meekly, looking up at the shorter blonde with hopeful green eyes. She sighed when both Kari and Channing looked at her with deadpan expressions. "Okay," she sighed, standing and stretching her arms above her head, her charm bracelet jingling on her wrist.

Thirty minutes later, she was walking side by side with Channing towards her apartment. She was wearing her trademark miniskirt, but instead of her white button down and vest, she wore a dark gray tee with two belts slung on her hips. Her duffle bag was thrown over her shoulder and crossed her torso diagonally. Kari had to go home and take her mom to the doctor's, so it was just the two of them.

"Maka-chan, I love you to tears, but if you don't hurry along, I _will _drag youthe rest of the way to your apartment."

Maka's long legs moved agonizingly slow as the two girls walked, the meister biting down on her lower lip viciously. This was it, she was going home.

And she was terrified.

"What if he's still mad at me Channing?" Maka asked for what had to be the tenth time. "I mean, I did lie to him-"

"Oh for the love of-" Channing groaned, rolling her eyes. "He's not mad at you! But he will be if you don't get over there in the next five minutes!" Maka frowned, but allowed Channing to drag her along. It wasn't seeing Soul that scared her (in fact, that was the part she was looking forward to), but trying to figure out where they should go from there. He had said nothing would change, but…

"You're right," Maka said after a minute of silence, the way her thoughts were starting to head scaring her. "I should just stop worryin-" The blonde meister came to a dead halt, her pupils dilating to the size of pins. Her normally forest green eyes turned an almost florescent moss. She grabbed Channing's wrist and yanked her back, staring wide eyed at the ground.

Maka knew this feeling. It was impossible not to after fighting this feeling for nearly four years. The tightness in her chest, the disgusting taste of sludge in her throat, the way all of her muscles coiled up in preparation.

"Kishin," she whispered, eyes wide. Channing ducked her head down, trying to see under the sheet of ashy blonde that was Maka's hair.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Channing asked with a frown, blue eyes twinkling with concern.

"Kishin!" she hissed, grabbing Channing's arm roughly and dragging her behind her back, her legs shifting apart to a fighting stance.

"What! Here! Now!" Channing yelped, her eyes wide in panic as she clung closer to Maka's back.

"I don't know where, but I can feel their soul," Maka whispered, her eyes darting around the street they had been walking down. She counted four dark alleys that the creature could be in and cussed under her breath. "Damn it, of all of the times to run into one of these things."

"Is that it?" the blonde dancer said with a whimper, pointing towards the end of the street with a shaking finger. Maka's head snapped around and her eyes widened at the figure. He was fairly unobtrusive, just a lanky man with bright red hair, but his eyes were a bright, pupil-less white. Both girls' eyes widened when he stepped into the light. "M-Mr. Ray?" Channing asked, her eyes wide.

"Hello girls," Ray said with a smooth voice, his lips pulling up in a smile. "How are you two young ladies doing?"

"I'd be doing better if I didn't have to kill you," Maka said with a hiss, her green eyes narrowing. The taller man quirked his head to the side, his smile disappearing. "So, how long have you been dining on the weak and helpless?"

"And why!" Channing shouted, making Maka's head whip around.

"Channing, stay outta this!" she hissed.

"Like hell!" she hissed back.

"You wouldn't understand," the red haired yelled, pupil-less eyes narrowing. "Always being feared for what you are, never getting the respect you deserve from anyone in this convoluted place."

"And so that makes it right to murder people and eat their souls?" Maka shouted back, her eyes narrowed.

"Well, those people certainly deserved it," he said with a dark laugh. "Did you know that I was set up to teach dance at the New York Institute? That I was going to be one of the head teachers? But then someone spilled the beans." He took a step closer, and Maka shuffled to the side, keeping a shaking Channing behind her back. "They heard from an old friend of mine that I was a weapon. He of course was the first to go. And then the director said that he felt _uncomfortable _with having a weapon teaching his students." Ray stopped, turning towards the girls with a twisted smile. "Now he tasted good."

"You're insane," Channing whimpered, tears flowing over. "How long have you been doing this?"

"As long as you've known me," he admitted with a smug shrug. "But it wasn't until recently that little Ms. Meister over here had good enough Soul Perception to weed me out. So I left the studio, waiting for when I could get her out of the picture."

"So you're planning to kill me?" Maka asked, calm as a still lake. Her eyes continued to dart around, looking for a suitable weapon to fight with. _'Damn it Soul, where are you?' _she thought, reaching out with her Soul Wavelength towards her albino weapon. But they were still too far away from the apartment and Shibusen for him to feel her.

"Of course I am," Ray said with a calm laugh. "But Channing, oh~, poor, sweet Channing," he stepped closer to the two women and Maka hissed loudly, a sound that would have made Blair proud. "You weren't supposed to be here. You were always such a good student," he sighed, shaking his head. "It's too bad you have to die."

"No-!"

"Go ahead and kill me if you want!" Maka screamed, her green eyes wide in panic. "But you let Channing go!"

"But then someone will know my little secret!" Ray said with a fake shock on his face. "Isn't that the whole point of killing you? To keep my secret? So," his smile turned wicked, and a long blade grew along the length of his arm. "It's time for you two young ladies to die."

Both Channing and Maka watched in horror as the man before them shifted. His lanky, muscular arms beefed up, growing longer until they reached the floor. His torso elongated so that all the was left of his legs were two two-foot long stubs. His back bent forward at an unnatural angle and his entire body swelled up like a balloon. Curly red hair grew longer and greasier, and straight white teeth went yellow and sharp.

"Makaaa," Channing whispered quietly, her voice breaking with a quiet sob.

"Just stay still," Maka whispered back, her eyes never leaving the shifting Kishin in front of them. "When I say go, I want you to run into that alley and hide, okay?"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Okay!" Maka hissed, turning so that they were eye to eye. Channing's protests died and she just stared at the meister with wide eyes. She had never seen this side of Maka, the side of her that was a trained killer. It was terrifying, but she had never been so grateful that her little sister was a meister.

"No amount of planning will save your lives!" Ray screamed, long claws growing from his fingers as he lunged forward.

"GO!" Maka screamed, pushing Channing towards the alley. The two blondes stared at each other for a split second, then Maka was in action.

Her blonde pigtails were a blur behind her as she danced around the charging Kishin. She ducked low to the ground, sliding on her knees and then flipping back on her hands, her foot connecting with Ray's gut. He made a strained choking noise as he flew across the street, Channing squeaking fearfully as she curled up into a ball behind a trashcan. His blank eyes locked onto her and he wobbled forward.

"Don't forget about me!" Maka shrieked, slamming a rusty, broken pipe into the back of his head. The kishin hissed, his head whipping around.

"How could I forget about a girl with such a delicious looking soul?"

Channing curled up into a little ball, her face buried in her knees as the sound of one of the most import people in her life being attacked brutally assaulted her ears (1).

_Crack._

"I need to do something," she whispered, eyes overflowing with tears. "She's gonna die without her weapon!"

_Crack._

"AIEEEE!" Channing's head shot up at Maka's cry of pain.

"MAKA-CHAN!" she screamed, scrambling to her knees.

"STAY AW_AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" _

_Crack._

"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do!" the blonde sobbed, her arms wrapping around herself.

_Crack._

"She needs a weapon!"

_Crack._

"Anybody, Soul, please!"

_Crack._

She covered her ears to block out Maka's cries of pain, and her eyes widened at the blood she felt pumping fast and hot through her veins. Her hands felt all prickly and her body was too hot.

_Crack._

Bright blue eyes hardened and narrowed. '_She needs a weapon.'_

_**Shatter.**_

Maka cried out in pain as the Kishin hefted her up by the throat, her hands scrambling for purchase on the monster's strange twisted hands. She was covered in wounds and cuts, and judging by how hard it was to breath, she had cracked a few ribs. Her biggest concern was the long gash that ran down her outer thigh, bleeding heavily. "So little girl," he hissed, his voice twisted and guttural, "You ready to die?"

"S-Soul," she whimpered quietly, tears rolling down her cheeks. This was it, she was going to die without her partner. Maka had known one day this was coming, every meister did, but she always imagined her weapon at her side. She'd never get to tell Soul how sorry she was. Never tell him how much he affected her, showing her that she could trust men again.

Never say "I love you," and hear him say it back.

Crying out in desperation, Maka tried one last time to call out to Soul with her wavelength, but it was too weak. '_I need a resonance in order to get my wavelength to Shibusen!' _she thought with a small sob.

"Goodnight girlie," the Kishin hissed, thin bloody lips pulled up in a sneer. He brought his opposite hand up, pulling it back and Maka watched in resign as his claws grew even sharper and longer. Her eyes slid closed and her head fell back, accepting her fate.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to the morning air, hoping that Soul would forgive her for being so weak.

Suddenly, the sound of metal being sharpened filled the air, and Ray's pained scream followed soon after. Maka fell to her knees as the Kishin clutched at the stump that used to be his arm, blood spurting over the cobblestone street. Maka's eye flew open, throwing the twitching arm to the side and scrambling away.

"Soul!" she yelled, for a second thinking that her weak wavelength had been enough and he had heard her desperate cries. But instead, she saw another weapon buried in the cobblestone.

It was a beautiful weapon, a battle axe with two blades on either side of a long gray staff. The two curved blades were a dark black, a lighter silver running along the sharpened edge. Maka crawled over to it, one bloody hand placed on the flat surface of the axe.

"Whoever you are," she gasped, still trying to catch her breath, "I owe you, big time. Where's your meister?"

**Maka-chan?**

Maka's entire body froze, her green eyes flying open at the familiar voice. **Maka-chan, you need to move!** Maka turned, eyes flying open when she saw the Kishin lunging towards her. She grabbed the axe's hilt, and slightly surprised at its lightness, she swung it at the charging monster.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" The Kishin screamed, roaring in pain as he was relieved of his other arm. Maka turned on her heel, running towards the end of the road and sprinting around the corner.

"Please tell me you're not who I think you are," Maka prayed, looking at the battle axe in her hands. Every doubt was erased from her mind when the scared face of a tiny blonde dancer was reflected in the axe's blade.

**Hi, **Channing said with a small wave. ** Guess we can tell my dad that he was right about me being a late bloomer, huh?**

"Fuck it Channing!" the sixteen year old screeched, eyes filling with tears. "This is the last thing I wanted for you!"

**It was either try and activate my weapon blood or let you die, **Channing said with a frown. **It was a long shot, but we're safe. **

"Not yet we ain't," Maka said with a hiss, ducking into an alley and running faster. "We need to try and call some help. I won't be able to get to Shibusen in this condition, so our best bet is a Soul Resonance."

**Can we do that?**

"It's better than just running around!" Both girls yelped when Ray's roar of rage was heard behind them, along with a few trashcans being knocked over. Taking a deep breath, Maka began to feel for Channing's wavelength. '_The fact that I was able to pick her up so easily means that our Soul Wavelengths are in synch,' _Maka thought as she ran, her brain switching into student mode. '_Now it's just a matter of matching them completely.'_

It took a few minutes, but Maka was able to match her wavelength with Channing's, and it wasn't long before she felt her body be enveloped in a familiar blue glow.

**Is this… A Soul Resonance? **Channing asked, her voice filled with awe.

"Oh hell no! No you don't!" Ray screamed, lunging at the two girls. Maka hissed as a large clawed hand swept over her head, the blonde meister just barely managing to dodge.

**Focus on your soul wavelength! **Channing shouted, eyes dark in concentration. **Our main concern is calling for help.**

"I thought our main concern was _living_!" Maka shouted, dodging attacks left and right. The meister practically fell back into the main street, and she almost cried in relief when she was able to see the tops of Shibusen's towers.

**Oh… That too. **

Maka focused on her soul wavelength, and when she was satisfied with its strength, ran towards the highest ground she could. "Here goes nothing!" she screamed, lifting Channing high in the air and shooting her soul wavelength through the axe, towards the sky and salvation.

**-0-**

Dr. Stein was in the middle of that morning's dissection when the sound of a bunch of books falling to the floor interrupted him. He looked up through his glasses to see Soul standing straight, his eyes wide and his chest heaving up and down. "Soul Eater, what's wrong?" Stein asked in his typical monotone, but he began to panic a bit when his student completely ignored him and bolted for the door, yelling for BlackStar and Tsubaki to come with him (Kidd and both the Thompsons had left on a mission yesterday). "Soul!" Stein yelled. Soul came to a skidding halt, eyes wide.

He had been half asleep in class when he had felt Maka's Soul Wavelength shot through him, making him jolt upright. He had been worried when she hadn't come home before school, but then he just figured that she would meet him at school.

He had been on the verge on a panic attack when she didn't.

And now he was livid, the remains of Maka's wavelength burning in his chest. She was injured, she was panicked, and she was in danger. That was all he needed to know in order to get him moving.

"Maka's in trouble, I just felt her wavelength and she's in serious danger," he hissed, eyes narrowing. Tsubaki gasped, and BlackStar's eyes narrowed dangerously. Stein stared at the three before slamming his scalpel into the wood of his desk and standing from his chair.

"What are we waiting for?" he said in a low monotone, turning towards the door. "Everybody, study something!" he yelled as the four ran from the room.

Soul's heart began to beat like a drum in his chest, panic rising up his throat. '_Maka, you better hold on!' _he thought desperately as they burst out the front doors and towards the stairs. Stein held out his hand towards the young Death Scythe, and Soul nodded once, shifting into a scythe easily before falling into Stein's hands.

**Can you feel her wavelength? **he asked with a frown, watching as Tsubaki transformed into BlackStar's palms.

"Yes, she's about a half mile away," Stein said gravely, following BlackStar and sliding down the banister of the stairs. "And she's got company."

"How many?" BlackStar asked, surprising both Stein and Soul with his no-nonsense tone.

"Two, one weapon and one kishin."

**Weapon? **Soul asked, one eyebrow quirking as the two meisters landed on the cobblestone and bolted towards the source of Maka's soul wavelength.

"Yes, a female battle axe, someone Maka is very close to." Soul's eyes widened.

**Channing! **he yelped, crimson eyes wide.

"I guess?" Stein said with a shrug, turning the corner. Soul was able to feel Maka's Soul Wavelength himself at this point, and he nearly cried in relief. The presence of a wavelength meant she was still alive at the very least.

The four turned the corner and Soul roared in rage. Maka was pinned to the wall, bleeding profusely as she held a large ballet axe in a death grip. Her eyes were closed in pain and all three teens screamed her name loudly.

"BASTARD!" BlackStar screeched in rage, lunging forward and throwing one end of the chain scythe that was his partner at the kishin. The blade sunk into the kishin's shoulder and BlackStar yanked him back.

Maka barely heard Ray's scream of pain, all she was aware of was the comforting presence of five familiar wavelengths. **Maka-chan! It worked!**Channing yelled happily, tears rolling down her face. Maka just smiled through her tears of pain as she crumbled to the floor. The sound of battle assaulted her ears, and she blacked out for a few moments.

When she woke again, a familiar pair of hands were helping her sit up, crying loudly in her ear. "Maka! Maka don't you dare give out on me!"

"S-Soul?" she whimpered, her green eyes flickering open slightly to meet a pair of achingly familiar crimson eyes. Stein was on her other side surveying the damage and Maka noticed that her leg had been wrapped up in his lab coat.

"Yeah baby, I'm right here," he choked out, tears of relief prickling at his eyes, but refusing to fall. "I'm right here."

"W-Where's Ray?" Maka tried to push herself away from Soul's chest, where he was cradling her broken body, but Soul pulled her back gently.

"We got him, Channing's got the soul." Sure enough, a very shaken up ballerina was sitting on the stairs next to a comforting Tsubaki, cradling a red soul to her chest. She looked over at the two and smiled slightly at Maka. Maka smiled back and allowed herself to relax into Soul's warm chest.

"Thank God," she whispered. Her head tilted back to meet Soul's eyes with her own, and she reached up to cup Soul's cheek with her bloody hand. "I… I thought I would never see you again," she admitted, tears rolling down her cheeks. Soul reached up and held her hand to his cheek.

"Don't say that Maka," he said quietly, his forehead resting on hers. "I would have never let you die."

"But I almost did." Maka coughed loudly, blood bubbling down her chin as Soul looked over his shoulder and screamed for someone to call Nygus or the ambulance. BlackStar took off like a rocket towards Shibusen, and Soul turned back to Maka with a worried expression. "And I had so much left to tell you," she said softly, her eyes fluttering closed.

"Maka," Soul said, panic in his voice as he twined his fingers with hers, "Don't fall asleep, you need to stay awake! Um, tell me! Whatever you wanted to tell me, tell me now!" he yelled, desperation sinking into his voice. He knew that he had to keep her awake, or the god that they served so faithfully in this city would take his beautiful meister away from him.

"I-I'm sorry," Maka choked out. "For lying to you. I never wanted to, and I'm so sorry."

"I forgive you," Soul said softly, his hand letting go of hers and brushing her jaw line. "I was never mad Maka, I just wanted you back."

"You have no clue how much you mean to me," the blonde meister continued, her eyes fluttering closed. "A-and thank you for everything."

"Maka, stay with me!" Soul yelled, making the other meisters and weapons look over at the two. Channing began to walk towards her best friend, tears rolling down her pale face, but Stein held his arm out.

"Wait," he said. "Just wait."

"Maka, what else," Soul asked, lightly tapping her face so that she would open her eyes again. "What else did you want to tell me?" Maka's eyes fluttered opened, and she stared at Soul with her soft green eyes before she reached up and brushed her fingers across his cheekbone.

"I…" she stopped, tears rolling down her face. Soul leaned closer down towards her, once again holding her hand to his face. Maka smiled drowsily as her eyes fluttered closed again, and her head fell back with a quiet sigh. "Maka?" Soul asked, panic building in his chest. "Maka!"

"Soul," Stein said with reassuring hand on the young Death Scythe's shoulder. "She's just unconscious, she's going to be fine. She lost a lot of blood." Soul nodded once, looking back down to the girl cradled in his arms. He leaned down and pressed his lips briefly to her forehead, and not three minutes, he was crawling into the back of an ambulance, refusing to let his meister go.

**-0-**

**(1) - Because I know **_**everybody **_***cough**_**not**_**cough* wants to know what the whole "Crack, Crack, Shatter," thingie was about, here you are. It was Channing's soul changing from the soul of a human to the soul of a weapon, and in order to do that, she needed to shed her soul's outer shell. So what those sounds were was Channing's soul's outer shell cracking and then shattering, leaving behind a shiny new soul. Remember back in chapter 5, when Miles was being a dick and Maka heard Channing's soul crack? That's what that was. *Floating "Exposition" sign over head* :DDD**

**200 Deathbucks says that only half of the people who read this story read that part. *sigh***

**.:. **

**Um…**

**Wow.**

**Uh, I don't really know what happened here. I really like it, but I have no clue what it is. Half of this chapter was planned, half of it wasn't.**

**Channing being a weapon? I've known that for months.**

** being a kishin? Almost as long as I've known about Channing.**

**Stein coming along with the three? Last minute.**

**Soul and everyone coming to the rescue? Originally, Maka was going to kill Ray and end up taking Channing to Shibusen where the two girls would collapse at the base of the stairs.**

**So yeah. I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while now, and I loved writing about Maka and Channing's fight. There was going to be more gore, but it's 12:30 am, and I'm tired from being at the beach all day.**

**Okay, we got two chapters left, and then the epilogue! Don't forget that I'm taking requests for one-shots that will be posted in "Shibusen Two Step," a continuation of sorts to DTMOB! I I've only gotten two so far, but I know you guys are chock' full of ideas. I wanna hear them folks, so send 'em in!**

**I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I am determined to finish this story over the summer, so it should be sometime soon. I also have to finish All's Fair, and I have a new update schedule for AG, so that'll take priority. Not to mention the other stories I want to start (including a story that I thought up at the beach.)**

**Remember, the one hundredth reviewer gets a DTMOB themed one-shot! I love that this story has gotten such a fantastic reception on this site, and I hope we'll reach that goal soon.**

**Thanks to all my reviewers! I love you all to tears! I've pretty much given up on replying to the reviews in the chapter since it got too long (Nearly five pages!) so just know that I read all of them and that I grin like an idiot whenever I get one and be it four words or four **_**paragraphs, **_**they're all fantastic, and they all effect my writing in some way.**

**This is totally random, and has next to nothing to do with the story, but I know that people of all sorts read this, and so I have a question for all of you! How many of you out there are surfers? I live near a beach and am aiming to learn how to surf (FINALLY) over the summer. Reading internet articles can only get me so far until I harass my dad to help me, so I would love to hear from any of you!**

**See y'all soon! *mutters* Hopefully.**

**Reviews keep Maka alive because, apparently, I love injuring her fatally (She's already been shot once this month, and she's getting some internal bleeding soon).**

**V**

**V**

**V**

**V**


	9. Author's Note

**Hello people!**

****I know it's been a while since I updated anything, especially this story.

The fact is, I've been reading over this story and I'm very disappointed with the quality of it. So instead of finishing the story and going back to fix it, I am going to start rewriting the story.

I don't know yet if I will be rewriting it from scratch or just doing some heavy editing, but it will not be a fast process, especially while I have several fics in progress at the moment. I hope to have this story finished by at least the end of the year.

Thank you for your patience.

Silver


End file.
